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Presenting The Wall Of Worry: The 50 Ugliest Facts About The US eCONomy
As we close on another week replete with ugly economic data and the usual bizarro counterintuitive market, here is a summary of the 50 most underreported facts about the state of the US economy, courtesy of the Coto report. After reading these it almost makes sense that the market has become completely desensitized to the sad reality now pervasive in this country. Readers are encouraged to add their own observations to this list.
Surely if the list is doubled, the market will go up to 72,000 instead
of just 36,000.
#50) In 2010 the U.S. government is projected to issue almost as much
new debt as
the rest of the governments of the world combined.
#49) It is being projected that the U.S. government will have a
budget deficit of
approximately 1.6 trillion dollars in 2010.
#48) If you went out and spent one dollar every single second, it
would take you more than 31,000
years to spend a trillion dollars.
#47) In fact, if you spent one million dollars every single day since
the birth of Christ, you still would
not have spent one trillion dollars by now.
#46) Total U.S. government debt is now up to 90
percent of gross domestic product.
#45) Total credit market debt in the United States, including
government, corporate and personal debt, has
reached 360 percent of GDP.
#44) U.S. corporate income tax receipts were
down 55% (to $138 billion) for the year ending September 30th,
2009.
#43) There are now 8 counties in the state of California that have
unemployment rates of
over 20 percent.
#42) In the area around Sacramento, California there is one closed business for every six that are still open.
#41) In February, there were 5.5
unemployed Americans for every job opening.
#40) According
to a Pew Research Center study, approximately 37% of all Americans
between the ages of 18 and 29 have either been unemployed or
underemployed at some point during the recession.
#39) More
than 40% of those employed in the United States are now working in
low-wage service jobs.
#38) According to one new survey, 24% of American workers say that they
have postponed their planned retirement age in the past year.
#37) Over 1.4 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in
2009, which represented a
32 percent increase over 2008. Not only that, more
Americans filed for bankruptcy in March 2010 than during any month
since U.S. bankruptcy law was tightened in October 2005.
#36) Mortgage purchase applications in the United States are down nearly 40 percent
from a month ago to their lowest level since April of 1997.
#35) RealtyTrac has announced that foreclosure filings in the U.S. established
an all time record for the second consecutive year in 2009.
#34) According to RealtyTrac, foreclosure filings were
reported on 367,056 properties in March 2010, an increase of nearly
19 percent from February, an increase of nearly 8 percent from March
2009 and the highest monthly total since RealtyTrac began issuing its
report in January 2005.
#33) In Pinellas and Pasco counties, which include St. Petersburg,
Florida and the suburbs to the north, there
are 34,000 open foreclosure cases. Ten years ago, there were
only about 4,000.
#32) In California’s Central Valley, 1 out of every 16 homes is
in some phase of foreclosure.
#31) The Mortgage Bankers Association recently announced that more
than 10 percent of all U.S. homeowners with a mortgage had missed at
least one payment during the January to March time period. That was a record high and up from 9.1 percent a
year ago.
#30) U.S. banks repossessed
nearly 258,000 homes nationwide in the first quarter of 2010, a 35
percent jump from the first quarter of 2009.
#29) For the first time in U.S. history, banks
own a greater share of residential housing net worth in the United
States than all individual Americans put together.
#28) More than 24% of all homes with mortgages in the United States were underwater as of the end of 2009.
#27) U.S. commercial property values are
down approximately 40 percent since 2007 and currently 18 percent
of all office space in the United States is sitting vacant.
#26) Defaults on apartment building mortgages held by U.S. banks
climbed to
a record 4.6 percent in the first quarter of 2010. That was almost
twice the level of a year earlier.
#25) In 2009, U.S. banks posted their sharpest decline in private
lending since 1942.
#24) New York state has
delayed paying bills totalling $2.5 billion as a short-term way of
staying solvent but officials are warning that its cash crunch could
soon get even worse.
#23) To make up for a projected 2010 budget shortfall of $280
million, Detroit issued $250 million of 20-year municipal notes in
March. The bond issuance followed on the heels of a warning from Detroit
officials that if its financial state didn’t improve, it
could be forced to declare bankruptcy.
#22) The National League of Cities says that municipal governments
will probably come up between
$56 billion and $83 billion short between now and 2012.
#21) Half a dozen cash-poor U.S. states have announced that
they are delaying their tax refund checks.
#20) Two university professors recently calculated that the combined
unfunded pension liability for all 50 U.S. states is
3.2 trillion dollars.
#19) According to EconomicPolicyJournal.com, 32
U.S. states have already run out of funds to make unemployment benefit
payments and so the federal government has been supplying these
states with funds so that they can make their payments to the
unemployed.
#18) This most recession has erased 8
million private sector jobs in the United States.
#17) Paychecks from private business shrank to
their smallest share of personal income in U.S. history during the
first quarter of 2010.
#16) U.S. government-provided benefits (including Social Security,
unemployment insurance, food stamps and other programs) rose
to a record high during the first three months of 2010.
#15) 39.68
million Americans are now on food stamps, which represents a new
all-time record. But things look like they are going to get even
worse. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is forecasting that
enrollment in the food stamp program will exceed 43 million Americans in
2011.
#14) Phoenix, Arizona features an
astounding annual car theft rate of 57,000 vehicles and has become
the new “Car Theft Capital of the World”.
#13) U.S. law enforcement authorities claim that there are now over 1
million members of criminal gangs inside the country. These 1 million
gang members are responsible for
up to 80% of the crimes committed in the United States each year.
#12) The U.S. health care system was already facing a shortage of
approximately 150,000 doctors in the next decade or so, but thanks to
the health care “reform” bill passed by Congress, that number
could swell by
several hundred thousand more.
#11) According
to an analysis by the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation the
health care “reform” bill will generate $409.2 billion in additional
taxes on the American people by 2019.
#10) The Dow Jones Industrial Average just experienced the
worst May it has seen since 1940.
#9) In 1950, the ratio of the average executive’s paycheck to the
average worker’s paycheck was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000,
that ratio has exploded
to between 300 to 500 to one.
#8) Approximately 40%
of all retail spending currently comes from the 20% of American
households that have the highest incomes.
#7) According to economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez,
two-thirds of income increases in the U.S. between 2002 and 2007 went to
the wealthiest 1% of all Americans.
#6) The bottom 40 percent of income earners in the United States now
collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.
#5) If you only make the minimum payment each and every time, a
$6,000 credit card bill can
end up costing you over $30,000 (depending on the interest rate).
#4) According to a new report based on U.S. Census Bureau data, only
26 percent of American teens between the ages of 16 and 19 had jobs in
late 2009 which represents a record low since statistics
began to be kept back in 1948.
#3) According to a National Foundation for Credit Counseling survey,
only 58% of those in “Generation Y” pay
their monthly bills on time.
#2) During the first quarter of 2010, the total number of loans that
are at least three months past due in the United States increased for
the 16th consecutive quarter.
#1) According
to the Tax Foundation’s Microsimulation Model, to erase the 2010
U.S. budget deficit, the U.S. Congress would have to multiply each tax
rate by 2.4. Thus, the 10 percent rate would be 24 percent, the 15
percent rate would be 36 percent, and the 35 percent rate would have to
be 85 percent.
h/t Teddy KGB
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We need a video of Walstreetpro2 reading an ad-lib'd version of this list.... and it'll go viral.
I really miss that guy.
I would really like to know what happened to Kevin Roland aka walstreetpro2. He checks in on his youtube channel, but hasn't posted anything in months.
I love this guy. What happened, did he get taken out by the gold-carry credit card scam he was foolishly bragging about?
#0) Great majority of the US population doesn't realize what had happened, what are the consequences, and who is responsible for p. #1) - #50) above.
Sad truth.
and they get to vote for hope and change.
The economy depends on rails and pipelines. The pipelines, I cannot see, but I was in Houston, TX and traveling to San Antonio. In Katy, TX (named for the Kansas and Texas railroad, and a major labor change point, every siding was full of railroad cars not being used. At several other locations, I saw sidings full of railroad cars.
#14) Phoenix, Arizona features an astounding annual car theft rate of 57,000 vehicles and has become the new “Car Theft Capital of the World”.
#13) U.S. law enforcement authorities claim that there are now over 1 million members of criminal gangs inside the country. These 1 million gang members are responsible for up to 80% of the crimes committed in the United States each year.
Hey
Thanks mexicans!
#13.5) Phoenix, AZ is also has the second highest kidnap rate in the world, #1 in U.S. (Thanks Mexican illegals).
Thanks, War on Drugs for making it so damned profitable!
.
Illegal drugs are Mexico's second largest export behind oil, estimated at $50 billion +. Mexico won't be shutting that down anytime soon, only fighting for control and profits.
If illegals can't find jobs or get welfare benefits, their only option is crime. Many are gang members already when they cross, but some join up once they get here. Mexican Mafia, MS13, etc... coming to a town or city near you.
Watch Costa Rica "exercise" starting up. Report is 7,000 Marines (but really just the shipping and berthing capability) and huge TF (really a Fleet).
I have no idea where they could gather a half-MEB to put on a bunch of gray boats, FMF is kinda tapped out with what all is going on. Could stage units through the platforms to "exercise". e.g.
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0711/anger-costa-rica-deal-invite-us-warships/
But this puts TF under "Coast Guard" command; oh, everything is legal then. SouthCOM is so clever. Must have brought a DHS officer into DoD as a "temporary" measure.
and all of the "personnel" who could get to wander around might never have seen Parris Island, Quantico, or San Diego.
Dang, more work in the research dep't. Military use in civilian law enforcement situations, e.g.:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act
I'm smelling Hillary and Jim Jones.
- Ned
No wonder economics is called the dismal science. After reading this list I feel like sitting in the bathtub, drinking an 18 Macallan and slitting my wrists. The good news is when the whole mess crumbles, we can still rely on CNBC to cheerlead the way..
I am laughing my ass off barely being able to type this correctly. Hey, isn't Fast Money coming on? YES!
Running on the hampster wheel as usual. We're fucked.
For some reason I feel a certain affinity towards my fellow ZH space monkeys, so I'm gonna give everyone some free advice: start inching towards the door.
No, you don't have to sell/liquidate all your assets, move off to the boondocks and buy a farm. (Even though if you're already there, you certainly don't want to move.) Rather, you need to start making mental preparations in terms of who you can trust, what your support network may look like, how will critical resources (basic staples, medicine, etc) be acquired, stored, managed & distributed, etc. (Again, I'm assuming you've already made basic physical preparations in terms of PM, weapons, food, etc.)
Believe it or not, the best place to start meeting people who already think along these lines are in existing community support networks: the emergency response volunteers, charitable organizations (both churches and secular NPOs), grass-roots political parties, etc.
Denninger & Ilargi (@TAE) were/are both correct - there's gonna be millions handled by relief camps. No, not food stamps, but real, honest to doG soup lines dispensing standard 'family of four' weekly rice/bean rations and allotments. You want to be part of the management team of these types of organizations.
Think it through. Obama was just a place keeper to assuage the voting public emotions about what happened in 2007-08. The next real leader is gonna lay out the truth, which means de-leveraging & working through the malinvestment. There is NO OTHER WAY out - it must be done in order to re-orient the economy towards a new (as yet undiscovered) growth paradigm.
The fallout, of course, will be a cessation/restriction of many/most existing support/entitlement programs. That means kids/parents/grandparents re-forming nuclear families. That means relaxation of current prohibitions (like drugs) and release of millions of non-violent criminals. That means a return to neighborhood security & support.
Think it through. There isn't any going back to the way "things were". It's not gonna be Mad Max, there will be no glamour, no drama, no shoot outs, no roving mobs. Just a long grind 'em out process of restoring out-of-whack balance sheets in order to measure real ROI so as to incentivize real capital investment. All real basic, mundane, facts-of-life types of shit.
B9K9 - Denninger is an idiot. He was convinced that there was no way that they would ever do a QE event because "they would never hurt the dollar like that." So narrow minded so as to be naive by choice. To the extent he was right about anything, it wasn't substantially more than seeing that the economy was shit and due for deflation. Big whoop.
Ask him why we're in Afghanistan - he'll tell you we're looking for Bin Laden and spreading democracy. He's an idiot.
Denninger gets it, he just can't connect all the dots to complete his understanding. His blind adherence to a fiat paper money is an example. As a debt back instrument birthed through issuing bonds promising futurative interest coupons, AT ITS BIRTH, the US FRN is immediately debased. Add QE, stealth "unbacked" printing and other dilutive effects and the value of US money erodes inevitably over time. Small dimunitions can be suffered by a long-suffering populace who are still able to make gain over an above dilution in times of expansion. Contraction--structural, long term necessary contraction--though severely exacerbates the US FRNs intermediate-to-long term storage limitations.
I am seeing this now incipiently. The early adopter crowd knows that the US dollar is not to be slept upon. This is an early indication of budding currency repudiation. Currency should be nearly infinitely divisible in order to make the most minute of discriminations of value assignation, should be readily recognizable and hold confidence for hour-to-hour transactions. It should also (in a perfect world) act as a reservoir of value preserving purchasing power not just day-to-day, but perennially. We all know that hasn't been the case for a generation, but the decay is exponentially increasing. The FRNs variability of value is making a BIFURCATION of the medium of exchange.
People are holding their dollars for acquisition of the daily needs. However, the greenbacks are coming out of the safes presently and savers are exchanging for precious metals. Dollars only for short term. PMs for length.
When the populace have come to this view universally, we are in the meat'n'potatoes of Gresham's Law. Paper for ease of exchange. Gold for preservation.
What events portend, if all refuse to hold the nation's currency for anything except short term?
We are nearing those events.
No sir, no way. Denninger is like a chemist who has figured out some narrow portion of basic chemical theory - for example, that oxygen causes rust only if water is present to catalyze the reaction - but steadfastly refuses to accept the periodicity of the elements because it's contrary to his religious beliefs.
He's a blind dog who stumbled on a bone, and has done nothing but run around slamming into other things, all the while trumpetting his uncanny finding of the bone.
Let's keep it simple. The guy doesn't undestand that the wars are about resources and control. He - honest to goodness gracious and shove some apple pie up my ass - thinks we're over there fighting terrorists. Anybody who is that stupid DOES NOT "get it."
He "got" only one thing - credit expansion peaked and contraction must occur thereafter. That's it. His entire mantra revolves around having been right on that single leaf in the tree. But he is completely naive about the role of the U.S. in the world, and the basic congruousness of democrats and republicans.
Anybody who is that simple minded does not "get it."
And to reiterate the point, the guy is such a flag waving buffoon he posted several times that the U.S. would never devalue the dollar by printing.
Seriously, how full of shit do you have to be to not get that the folks running the show don't give a shit about U.S. national sovereignty or the fucking dollar? Don't defend him. He's an intellectual punk that got one question right and now spends his days reminding everybody about it, despite his inability to get any further question right.
Frank-- good luck posting a link from KD saying "he posted several times that the U.S. would never devalue the dollar by printing."
To my recollection he has never said that. In fact, he has said the Benny boy will soon print himself into a complete corner clusterfuck.
Its okay to be a hater, but atleast get your facts straight.
My problem with KD is that he seems to think that despite all the failings of the government, that somehow government can save us if only all the bad guys would be put in jail. Historically, this has never, ever happened. Ever.
Some of the circular logic is amusing, but he means well.
Oh, no doubt the moron is currently singing the obvious tune. As for rooting through TF to find the post from 18 months before QE1 to find when the moron said, indefatigably, that the U.S. would "never" print money because they would "never" destroy the dollar, no thank you.
The guy is a moron, he's extremely narrow minded, and not only does he not see the forest, he can't even look up to see the canopy.
He wrote it. Here's how you know he wrote it - I read it. Multiple times. On multiple threads.
Now, he runs his site like he's a 12 year old at his own birthday party, he doesn't allow any conflicting opinion to see the light of day for more than the few hours it takes one of his echo-box toadies to report the dissension, and, as noted above, the vain douchebag actually thinks that some day somebody will look back fondly and note how Dickheadger saw it all coming. Good luck with that.
So you think he doesn't sterilize his own posts?
He's the worst kind of idiot - he's an idiot who is just smart enough to sound smart but not smart enough to analyze information that is contrary to his paradigm of living. In order for him to stop being a moron, he would have to give up his apple-pie-up-his-ass paradigm, and that ain't happening. When the black ops kick in his door and drag him away for economic terrorism, the idiot will be convinced it's anglo-looking Muslims who done him in.
As a final note, he speaks poorly, his writing is unfocused and unnecessarily profane, and his vanity driven shot of being known outside his mini-cabal of TF readers in 20 years is about the same as the dollar being more valuable then than now.
Look at it this way. The guy is a big Republican supporter, keeps noting how "change" in November and a new president is all we need, and actually - GET THIS! - tries to rally the troops to "email and call" your senator/rep each time a new bat is being shoved up our proverbial asses. I remember reading him and his main stooges posting to "urgently" call your rep. so that the financial bail-out bill wouldn't pass. Please. If he wasn't a moron he'd understand these 2 things - 1. The republicans are not the answer - they're 1/2 the problem. 2. Calling your senator is about as effective as putting your dick in a blender to stop it because the on/off button isn't working.
Actually - his takedown of Krugman was reprint worthy. Anytime I share KDs work, I always add a caveat (or two), but in the end, Jim Willie is mostly correct. Karl Denninger has excellent forensic ability when it comes to what was and what is. Trees, not forest with Karl. For what should and will likely happen, I go elsewhere, although he does amuse me with his references to "Granny getting her shotgun".
http://queenbee-insidethehive.blogspot.com/2010/07/chris-whalen-paper-go...
Bonjour, Alexandre. We need more of your prose to see more of the invisible.
I am amongst the many who have been bounced from his forum. In a moment of honesty, he told me he's not really interested in carrying on a reasoned debate. He is writing for the ages - he knows he will be proven right & wants his words studied decades from now.
Btw, KD is not an idiot - he may have allegiances to certain ideas/ideals, but who doesn't? After all, who amongst us can shed the vestiges of our evolutionary belief systems? If they weren't so powerful & ingrained, religion wouldn't exist. I, for example, believe America can recover & that our citizens possess some intrinsic spirit that will ultimately guide the way. Am I wrong? Who knows; I guess we'll find out.
In terms of using basic math to derive inescapable conclusions, well, the truth behind the numbers is evident for anyone who wishes to see.
He's already been proven grossly wrong. He said, emphatically and repeatedly, that the U.S. would never try to print its way out of the mess. It is, in fact, exactly what we are doing so far. In essense, he missed the most critical aspect of all of this. Anybody with a 6th grade education and some gumption could have gleaned from the publicly available numbers that excess credit was out there and that the chickens would eventually come home to roost. He got that. I got that. Shiff got that. I'd guess TD got it, but it was before my time here. But Dickenger missed the critical next step, which is - how would the U.S. respond. Shiff got it, I got it, and many others did - by printing. Denninger didn't get it. It's nice to know that the bomb is about to blow. It's much better to know where the bomb is, however. He didn't.
Well, we can disagree on that one. "I sez Duck." Little Bill.
Denninger is an idiot
no you are wrong.....Denninger gets it....
I have not posted on Karl's site as I am a gold bug.
I save myself the BS to be removed....LOL
Karl gets it..you have not read his site over the years
as a gold bug .....Karl has posted over the years the need and love of a FED bank.....
he loves paper money....
read this....Martin Armstrong.
http://www.martinarmstrong.org/files/Can-the-Euro-Survive-a-Sovereign-Debt-Crisis-6-14-10.pdf
sorry I had to look for it...paladin
Such a scenario is not yet certain. No one can possibly know how this plays out. Governments/central banks/bond holders have more cards yet to play.
This is the game that never ends.
Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends
We're so glad you could attend
...
As they say, "you can check out, but you can never leave..."
Why did you throw the jack of hearts away? It was the only card in the deck that I had left to play.
Study history a little bit more & get back to me. Actions always regress to the mean. As horrible as Nazi Germany was, it only lasted 12 years. Napoleon a little over 15 years. The tug of time ages all. Generations get tired & give way to new energies.
Spend some time around our youth. Spend some time around our military eg go to an airshow. If you think they are going to roll over and take it up the ass like the passive boomers & Gen Xers, well, good luck with that bet.
You see, they're not (yet) stakeholders, nor do they have any immediate prospects of becoming stakeholders. They don't have homes, they don't have investments, they don't have careers; all they have is debt. They have nothing to look forward to except a crappy future paying for the excesses of previous generations.
Like I said, study history a little bit. This shit never lasts.
The Roman Empire lasted much longer. Nazi Germany and Napoleon were based around 1 person...this is not. This has been building for the last 100 yrs and is beginning to seriously exert it's influence and power. The question is...will the troops (military) follow? So far the answer is yes...but that is in a foreign country. There has been a few tests here, but I suspect more will follow. Additionally, there is a fly in the ointment...most notably China, which appears to not want to play the game on the banksters terms. Purely my tinfoil hat opinion.
As to your statements about preparing...I agree whole heartedly.
China will get strong armed into playing along. That's the point of the military, to back the actions of the bankers.
Tin Foil Hat on:
I have assumed for the last couple years that the titans of finance, the titans of oil, the titans of technonlogy, and pharma, had all come together to deliver on the plans of the new world order. Through, the work of the Bilderberg meetings and secret societies, these industries were working together to deliver on this NWO or ENDGAME as Alex Jones like to term it.
Tin foil HAt turbo status:
What if the titans finace/liberals/Keynesians were actually at war with the titans of oil/militarycomplex/conservatives school.
What if the BP spill was actually an attack of sabotage by the banking cartel/carbon credits/green energy
on the oil cartel/old school camp, who has no interest in seeing Green energy?
What if the pipeline was blown up by the bankers to usher in the carbon credit scheme, and to create billions and billions of checks that need to be cut to the victims, and fast track ourselves to Peak Oil.
I would say from an GNP economic perspective, the checks being cut to the victims along with the cost of the clean up will total MORE than the lost revenue in tourism?
From a Keynesian perspective, the oil spill is a quick way to disburse stimulus cash and and to the bottom line of GDP.
You think im crazy?
FDR during the depression would pay people to dig ditches and pay other people to bury those ditches. Better known as the TVA or WPA?
Now I am purely looking at what motivational forces could of be in play if there was sabotage involved in the oil spill?
There is plenty of other suspicous acitivty around the spill that is to long to go into here, but here is the story http://www.infowars.com/evidence-points-to-bp-oil-spill-false-flag/
Can some one answer me this question? Is there a rift/feud between the banking cartel and the oil cartel?
No answer, just further speculation. The timing of the DWH explosion and subsequent catastrophe is certainly auspicious from many angles, the GS sale of BP assets being only one of them (think of the capital such a sale might have freed for shorting, buying CDS, puts, whatever) and the imminent introduction of energy/climate legislation. But what I wanted to point to is your viewpoint about the GOM crisis acting as a Keynesian stimulus measure, read and weep:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-na-oil-spill-economy-20100709,0,2508857,full.story
papa,
As far as the military following?.
I seriously doubt it. I had a long conversation with a Lifer Ret.Major.
When I posed a hypothetical to him about the citizens ONCE more rising up, what did he think would happen?.
He said, HE seriously doubted they would get invloved,as they took an Oath, that they take very seriously( and have a long history on).
IF it were a popular civilian uprising, he said he thought they would at WORST "STAND DOWN".
Their first and Chief Order is to Protect & Defend the Constitution.............
If true(and this man is a soldiers, soldier,long family trad),then WE THE PEOPLE have almost a cakewalk, if God forbid it came to that.
Frank ignorantly stated:
Spend some time around our youth. Spend some time around our military, e.g. go to an airshow. If you think they are going to roll over and take it up the ass like the passive boomers & Gen Xers, well, good luck with that bet.
You see, they're not (yet) stakeholders, nor do they have any immediate prospects of becoming stakeholders. They don't have homes, they don't have investments, they don't have careers; all they have is debt. They have nothing to look forward to except a crappy future paying for the excesses of previous generations.
Buffoonery at it's finest. Contradictory as well. Perhaps sticking your head in the sand is the best way to deal with the reality that is contained within this article from this past April, 2010:
Generation Y's steep financial hurdles: Huge debt, no savings (April 23, 2010 - USA Today)
Excerpts:
Kristen Ammerman, 21, a senior at Michigan State University, faces such challenges and sees her Gen Y classmates struggling with financial issues — while seemingly oblivious to the potential consequences. "I work at a part-time job, have incredible debt and get food stamps," she says. "I'm still short on rent every month. ... My friends all want the newest and best things. They spend money on them any chance they get."
---
Only 58% pay monthly bills on time, a National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) 2010 survey said.
---
Nearly 70% of Gen Y members are not building up a cash cushion, and 43% are amassing too much credit card debt, says a November MetLife poll.
---
On average, Gen Yers each have more than three credit cards, and 20% carry a balance of more than $10,000, according to Fidelity Investments.
---
Even so, not all Gen Y members have learned from the harsh realities they face. This year, 25% of Gen Y members say they are spending more than last year, compared with 18% of all adults, according to the NFCC survey.
---
Frank Lennon, 27, an analyst in the hospitality industry in Nashville, acknowledges that during his college years and after graduation, he spent more money than he made. "I was greedy," he says. "I made a lot of poor financial decisions without thinking of the big picture. I should have known better." Lennon's wife, Erin, 26, is still in college and has $28,000 in student loans. It was only when they were married in October that they became aware of their total credit card and college loan debts. "The real shock was on our wedding day, when we realized that we were $104,000 in debt," Frank says.
Full article:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2010-04-23-1Ageny23_CV_N.htm
But, according to you, all of what is contained within this article is the fault of 'previous generations'. Riiiiight. Typical formulation and rationale for a failed experiment; blame the previous generations for the stupidity and wrecklessness of the current one(s). Good luck with that.
I've paid my bills, taxes and have saved money and made preparations for whatever future may lie ahead. Looks as though the Gen Y'ers are creating and amassing a world of their own problems. And as usual, need a scapegoat since Mommy and Daddy aren't standing by to pick up the pieces. If anything, all of that debt is absorbed and swirled into everyone elses bills through interest rate hikes. So, Frankie, if you need someone to blame, look no futher than to the closest mirror.
Who raised them to be this way?
THE MEDIA#1,peer pressure,.........................and the ignorance of thinking everything will always remain the same, I am young, and I have time................until the person in the mirror staring back, is no longer youthful.
Reality BITES.
Trips to Europe (and/or Cancun, Hawaii), $50+ weekend bar tabs, iPods (+ iTunes music, movies to fill it), DVDs, car (insurance, gas, stereo/other mods), cinema, eating out, etc, etc, etc - consuming as if they already made $60,000 a year.
Sex tapes! Lindsey Lohan is going to jail! Get your online degree! Sex Tapes! Lebron snuffed Cleveland! Sex Tapes! Mel Gibson is a racist! What's your credit score! Weight loss tips from Playboy Bunnies!
If you follow the formula you are either a hermit/foreigner and/or focused. Imagine if you have no outside assistance from well-off parents/extended family.
Sex tapes! Lindsey Lohan is going to jail! Get your online degree! Sex Tapes! Lebron snuffed Cleveland! Sex Tapes! Mel Gibson is a racist! What's your credit score! Weight loss tips from Playboy Bunnies!
Too many inflated degrees, not enough real job skills, not enough jobs, loans...heavy loans to repay...and the bankers didn't have to break a *sweat*. The bankers even get a bonus. It's not like America didn't have fun, but it's subprime for all.
Sex tapes! Lindsey Lohan is going to jail! Get your online degree! Sex Tapes! Lebron snuffed Cleveland! Sex Tapes! Mel Gibson is a racist! What's your credit score! Weight loss tips from Playboy Bunnies!
I see foreign investors eagerly waiting for the fire sales to really kick in. US prime real estate in exchange for debt service. Homeless in the country of our birth. Clueless millions.
Sex tapes! Lindsey Lohan is going to jail! Get your online degree! Sex Tapes! Lebron snuffed Cleveland! Sex Tapes! Mel Gibson is a racist! What's your credit score! Weight loss tips from Playboy Bunnies!
Shampoo Planet!
Mircroserfs!
"We are behaving like insects."
It's all Douglas Coupland
Regards
Nobody raised them.
THAT'S THE PROBLEM!
Exactly. Generation Y'ers have been too dumbed down and are at the bottom of the brainwash chain to be able to see what's going on. Hell, these are the same people who probably went ahead and voted for Obama so they could be part of the "cool" crowd, piling up debts for useless degrees to try and secure glorified paper shuffling positions in the process.
Who were they raised by? The same group of people whose greedy intentions got us into this shit-storm in the first place - the BABY BOOMERS. Because it just wasn't enough to "keep up with the Joneses." You think the majority of that generation gives a rat's ass? Hell fucking no.
As long as their social security and pension checks keep coming in, most don't give a flying fuck about the generations following. To put it bluntly, "You're on your own kid." The few Boomers that do and have come to realization they had the opportunity to set things straight while time was still on their side, they're too busy these days fiddling with their dialysis pumps to stay in the fight.
If any group is going to save what's left of this country, it will rest on the shoulders of Generation X'ers whose minds haven't yet succombed to the greed and "I" mentality found prevalent amongst the Elitist Boomers sitting at the round table.
.
"In Berlin, on the afternoon of January 31, 1933, the National Socialist German Students' League staged its own parade, which ended up in front of the Berlin Stock Exchange ('The "Mecca" of German Jewry', as a right-wing newspaper put it).
Emerging Jewish stockbrokers were greeted by the students with chants of 'Judah Perish!' "
http://theinfounderground.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=10864&p=43765
On one point there should be no doubt: we will not let the Jews slit our gullets and not defend ourselves. Today in Berlin they may already be arranging their festival-dinners with the Jewish hangmen of Soviet Russia - that they will never do here. They may today begin to set up the Cheka - the Extraordinary Commission - in Germany, they may give it free scope, we surrender to such a Jewish Commission never! We have the conviction, firm as a rock, that, if in this State seven million men are determined to stand by their 'No' to the very last, the evil specter will collapse into nothingness in the rest of the Reich. For what Germany needs today, what Germany longs for ardently, is a symbol of power, and strength.
So as I come to the end of my speech I want to ask something of those among you who are young. And for that there is a very special reason. The old parties train their youth in the gift of the gab, we prefer to train them to use their bodily strength. For I tell you: the young man who does not find his way to the place where in the last resort the destiny of his people is most truly represented, only studies philosophy and in a time like this buries himself behind his books or sits at home by the fire, he is no German youth! I call upon you! Join our Storm Divisions! And however many insults and slanders you may hear if you do join, you all know that the Storm Divisions have been formed for our protection, for your protection, and at the same time not merely for the protection of the Movement, but for the protection of a Germany that is to be. If you are reviled and insulted, good luck to you, my boys! You have the good fortune already at eighteen or nineteen years of age to be hated by the greatest of scoundrels. What others can win only after a lifetime of toil, this highest gift of distinguishing between the honest man and the brigand, falls as a piece of luck into your lap while you are but youths. You can be assured that the more they revile you, the more we respect you. We know that if you were not there, none of us would make another speech. We know, we see clearly that our Movement would be cudgelled down if you did not protect it! You are the defense of a Movement that is called one day to remodel Germany in revolutionary fashion from its very foundations in order that there may come to birth what perhaps so many expected on the ninth of November: a German Reich and a Germanic and, so far as in us lies, a German Republic.
Every battle must be fought to the end - better that it come early than late. And he ever stands most securely who from the first goes to the fight with the greatest confidence. And this highest confidence we can carry with us in our hearts. For he who on our side is today the leader of the German people, God's truth! he has nothing to win but perhaps only everything to lose. He who today fights on our side cannot win great laurels, far less can he win great material goods - it is more likely that he will end up in jail. He who today is leader must be an idealist, if only for the reason that he leads those against whom it would seem that everything has conspired.
But in that very fact there lies an inexhaustible source of strength. The conviction that our Movement is not sustained by money or the lust for gold, but only by our love for the people, that must ever give us fresh heart, that must ever fill us with courage for the fray.
I sincerely hope everyone reads, and comprehends, what you've posted here. . . because all this nonsense about taking an "Oath" or loyalty to the "real amrkns" or whatever will fall by the wayside when those who pull the strings start cooing in the ears of all the youth who see ZERO future ahead of them. . . when they are told
when those who will feed, and arm them in droves tell them how special they are, how chosen, don't expect mercy.
this is how they do it, you know - turn generations against each other, children against their families - it's the oldest divide and rule going - get the people to hate & kill each other for the good of the "future". . . Cultural Revolution?
there's a Little Red Book quote to ponder. . .
look at this thread alone, all the hatred against the "boomers" for sucking up all the money and resources, blahblahblah - oh! and the OBESE, man, they've got it coming, they're probably on FOOD STAMPS and WELFARE, and lazy useless eaters - kill 'em all nao!!!!1!
no, I harbour zero illusions about what may play out in the "future". . . some may feel loyalty to their communities, but the majority will be looking out for "#1" - they'll be armed, fed propaganda, and you don't want to get in their way. . .
Keep in mind -- Communism has always been Jewish Shetlism and Talmudic in nature as well. It is found with Jews:
Mao & Sidney Rittenberg
http://www.plu.edu/scene/issue/2003/summer/IMAGES/rittenbergmao.jpg
http://jewishfaces.com/china.html
Three CPPCC members celebrate 90th birthdayThree CPPCC members with foreign origins celebrated their 90th birthday together at Jingfeng Hotel, one of the hotels in Beijing appointed for the NPC and CPPCC sessions, on March 8.
Israel Epstein, Sidney Shapiro (Sha Boli) and Chen Bidi were born in Poland, the United States and Canada respectively, and they obtained Chinese nationality in 1957 and 1963. As experts who have long been working in the field of foreign publicity, they witnessed China's revolution and socialist modernization drive.
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200503/09/eng20050309_176153.html
Now quoting Hitler speeches is fashionable here on ZH? Good grief. Gentlemen, do us all a favor and go outside to meet people who are nothing like you. It might help you expand your understanding of this world. There are communist jews, capitalist jews, anarchist jews, mafia jews, and just plain old main street jews. The fact that you lump us all together in this vitriol and decry divide & conquer tactics in the same breath is rather amusing. Clearly, irony is rather lost on you. I am always thankful of our first amendment right. The fact that you use it unabashedly helps us see men like you coming from a mile around. Having a scapegoat as convenient as the jews is great for you; it enables you to blame someone else for something that each of us is responsible for. I admire your logic...
Since you are looking for something "Popular" -- here's one for you... prime J-Triber stories:
http://theinfounderground.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&p=45939#p45939
You should admire my honesty about J-Tribe Crimes.
There isn't much to admire. You're welcome to come over for Shabbat at the house anytime. Maybe we can broaden you horizons...
Bring it on... Idiot J-Triber... Jews are so stupid because what they believe is bankrupt like they are... --CSR
although I've said it before, no harm in repeating.
Jewish does not equal Zionist.
Not all who are of the Jewish faith, or "race," are Zionists.
I have no tolerance for those who seek a Zionist state, and work to capture other nationstate's institutions, and finances, towards that end.
just to be clear.
as to your quip that you'll have no problems identifying "gentlemen" such as me, I rather think I'm safe then, lol.
Well, thanks for taking the time to clarify your position. You might make a distinction between Israel and Jews, but I'm pretty sure that CrackSmokeRepublican doesn't. He's been a member for about 35 weeks and just starting typing this weekend. This was his reply to me in another thread:
"Hey JewTard,
Leave America. Now. Get the F'Out and take your multi-cult immigrants with you.
And no, you are not getting re-imbursed for your losses in your Madoff Scam."
It takes time to work up courage to write stuff like that. I truly enjoy this community, and I would rather dislike to see it turn into stormfront.org. I broke my cardinal rule when I replied to him... "Don't feed the trolls". It's rather ironic, for an individual who thinks that the Jews are so omnipotent, he's pretty ignorant of the ease at which IP addresses can be tracked... I just wanted to put it on the record that we do have standards around here, and that he could work on his decorum a bit.
hmm, yes - I wasn't familiar with CSRep's "voice" - I usually scan or scroll past those who I've known in the past to be one-sided posters, particularly racist /sexist nonsense. . . the world is not black and white with only two flavours or sides to chose from. . . I clicked on the the link in his second post, and quickly got the gist of his "side". . . no thanks.
people who generalise and are prone to sweeping categories tend not to be able to hold a wider view on the world, which is intricate and complex - even though we all use a form of shorthand when speaking/posting. . . I'm not saying I don't generalise, I do, but I try not to when it comes to demonising whole groups of people, and particularly nowadays, as lines are being drawn and anger is so prominent. . . I can get angry too, but I try to remember that those who are responsible for much of this mess, and conspiracy, are completely beyond my ability to "reach" - all I can do is make myself aware, and then absent myself from their systems, their webs, as much as possible. . .
prejudice is lazy thinking, and sadly can be contagious. . .it's the sign of someone who feels helpless or less than, scoring points with groupthink behaviours.
I have long-term friends of Jewish heritage - I would have junked that reply you quoted above, no problem.
best to you and yours.
It doesn't take "Courage" to figure out massive Jew Scams... it takes about 3 seconds J-B>tch.
B9K9,
Love you moniker and avatar. I'm a Rottie lover. My girl literally guards the house while we're absent. Come to the front door and she'll wag her nub off looking for affection. Come to the back door and you'll get a different greeting.
I'm fourth generation Floridian (6th, 7th Gen are in my tribe). My family homesteaded here (bought acres for pennies) in the 1800s. Further back than that, we're all members of the Society of Mayflower Descendants. For those that think I'm BSing look up William Brewster, 1620.
As a member of the lucky sperm club (my family) we've inherited vast tracks of Florida farm land that to this day is about 1/3 orange grove, 1/3 cattle, some farmed, the rest is scrub. Not all in one contiguous tract but several thousand acres in total. We also settled in the Carolinas.
I live and work in the burbia of South Florida and quite literally have an exit plan to our ranch lands that are less than a tank of gas away.
We're all excellent markmen and hunters. So if the S does HTF we really do have a plan. But do we talk about this? Nah, not much at all. It's there, so what's the worry? Without this family network I think I really would be worried though.
But I don't believe that we're going Mad Max either. As much as I might enjoy going John Galt I think your last paragraph sums up our future. But if you're wrong...
Cracker....and I say that with the utmost affection. I have come home...my grandfather from the Gainsville area was raised by the artist Herman Herzog after his parents died. My wife and I moved back to FL about 10 yrs ago....I love it here.
Herman Herzog is one of my favorite painters. His landscapes are just incredible.
Cracker indeed. My granddad taught me how to use a bullwhip at a young enough age to horrify my mother. But I've still got both my eyes so it all worked out.
My son is in G'ville and I'm a UF alum as well. Luvs watching mah gators wrestle in the swamp, papa.
Cool connection to HH.
Be well.
fellow gator and Floridian. :) Go Broncos?!?!?!
My grandfather graduated from UF and one of my boys is looking to go there. Love the swamp and scrub. I'm actually a little pleased the housing market has sucked so bad...keeps the developers from wiping out what is left of this beautiful state.
take care!
Nother Cracker butting in here. Born in St. Pete. Mom and Dad born in St. Pete. Degrees out of St. Pete, Tampa, and Gainesville. Live elsewhere but all my kinfolk are in FL. I fear the oil spill will wipe out our beautiful muggy state.
I fear, unfortunately, you may be correct. Tar balls are washing up on the east coast...the coast guard is analyzing.....the CG's credibility is in question in my mind since they have been acting like the lackeys of BP...this saddens me since I had such high regard for them..
Yeah... I'll buy all that.. I would only add that there may be pockets of real and deadly turmoil..
B9K9
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/List_of_anarchist_communi...
Freetown Christiania (1971–present)One of the two main entrances to Freetown Christiania.
Christiania was founded in 1971, when a group of hippie squatters occupied an abandoned military barracks in Copenhagen, Denmark. One of the more influential people involved was Jacob Ludvigsen, who published an anarchist newspaper which widely proclaimed the establishment of the free town. The people of Christiania developed their own set of rules—independent of the Danish government—which include the prohibition of cars, stealing, guns, bulletproof vests and hard drugs. Cameras are not allowed, and locals will wave their hands and shout "No photo!" if they see a picture being taken. Famous for its main drag, known as "Pusher Street" as hash was sold openly from permanent stands until 2004. Such commerce is controversial, but cannot be removed without complete community consensus. For years the legal status of the region was in limbo, as the Danish government attempted, without success, to remove the squatters.
The neighborhood is accessible only through two main entrances, and cars are not allowed. Danish authorities have repeatedly removed the large stones blocking the entrance, which have been replaced each time by residents. The authorities claim that the area must be accessible for safety concerns, but the residents suspect that it will instead be used by the police. The town negotiated an arrangement with the Danish defense ministry, the legal owners of the location, in 1995, resulting in resident taxation. The future of the area remains in doubt, as Danish authorities continue to push for its removal.
The inhabitants fight back with humour and persistence—for instance, when authorities in 2002 demanded that the hash trade be made less visible, the stands were covered in military camouflage nets. On January 4, 2004, the stands were finally demolished by the owners themselves (without stopping the hash trade as such, which continued on a person-to-person basis) as a way of persuading the government to allow the Free Town to continue to exist. Before they were demolished, the National Museum of Denmark was able to obtain one of the more colourful stands, and now includes it as part of an exhibit.
Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities (1994-present)The indigenous peoples of Southern Mexico rebelled in 1994, partially in response to the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), reclaiming their lands in what is called "a war against oblivion".
Laws in the Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities are not passed by "leaders", as such, but by "Good Government Councils" and by the will of the people (representatives in these councils are truly representative of their communities, rather than professional politicians). This is very similar to the delegate structure that many anarchists engage in with spokescouncils, or with unions. In many communities, general assemblies gather during the week to decide on various things facing the community. The assemblies are open to all, with no formal hierarchy. The decisions made by the communities are passed to elected delegates whose only job is to give the decided upon information to a council of delegates.[clarification needed] Like anarcho-syndicalist organizations, the delegates are recallable, and are also rotated. This way, massive numbers of people are able to decide things with no formal hierarchy, and without people speaking for them.
The assemblies and councils serve not as traditional governing bodies but as instruments of the people to provide medicine, education, food, and other essentials. The "laws" passed by the Good Government Councils are not enforced with policemen and prisons, but in a way that respects "criminals" as members of the community. For example, it was decided to ban alcohol and drugs,[15] due to their nefarious influence on Indians in the past (though alcohol/drug prohibition is considered in conflict with anarchist principles). Violation of this law is surprisingly rare; those who do may be required, for example, to help build something their community needs. Some anarchists believe this to be a decentralized, non-authoritarian style similar to what they advocate, having always loathed prisons, police power, and capital punishment.
Like anarchists, Zapatistas also believe in forming freely associated collectives to carry out various jobs and tasks. Zapatistas collectively work land, and plant and grow crops. The Zapatistas do not claim to be anarchists, but through their actions and words, have shown some similarities to self-proclaimed anarchists and have become a cause célebre of the global left and the "anti-globalization movement". However, the Zapatistas, along with libertarian Marxism and traditional Zapatismo (which is almost identical to anarchism), have also been heavily influenced by the writings and actions of Ricardo Flores Magón, or "Magonism", who was an anarcho-syndicalist during the Mexican Revolution.
Abahlali baseMjondolo: South Africa (2005–present)Abahlali baseMjondolo is a movement of shack dwellers and is active in 36 shack settlements in Durban, Pinetown and Pietermaritzburg in South Africa. It has instituted popular democratic rule in all settlements where the movement is dominant. The movement has refused electoral politics in favour of decentralised popular people's power.
All major decisions are taken in open assemblies and all elected positions are for one year-terms and people can be recalled. People elected to official positions are not elected to represent those who voted for them but rather to ensure that there is democratic decision making on all issues related to their portfolio. The movement faces constant violent and unlawful police harassment.
The film The Take was screened in one of the most famous Abahlali baseMjondolo communities, Kennedy Road, in 2005. Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis were present.
More power to you. I support the family, freedom, liberty loving reality that your community enjoys. That's the America that I want to.
Hope that it last.
Hope that it would become a model. This life really should be reset. I'm terrified though by all of the falsity that pervades modernity. So much is built upon sand and lies that I tremble to contemplate the outcome.
Just scares the shit out of me to ponder the suffering.
Bakunin on Marx and Rothschild
“Himself a Jew, Marx has around him, in London and France, but especially in Germany, a multitude of more or less clever, intriguing, mobile, speculating Jews, such as Jews are every where: commercial or banking agents, writers, politicians, correspondents for newspapers of all shades, with one foot in the bank, the other in the socialist movement, and with their behinds sitting on the German daily press — they have taken possession of all the newspapers — and you can imagine what kind of sickening literature they produce. Now, this entire Jewish world, which forms a single profiteering sect, a people of blooksuckers, a single gluttonnous parasite, closely and intimately united not only across national borders but across all differences of political opinion — this Jewish world today stands for the most part at the disposal of Marx and at the same time at the disposal of Rothschild. I am certain that Rothschild for his part greatly values the merits of Marx, and that Marx for his part feels instinctive attraction and great respect for Rothschild.
This may seem strange. What can there be in common between Communism and the large banks? Oh! The Communism of Marx seeks enormous centralization in the state, and where such exists, there must inevitably be a central state bank, and where such a bank exists, the parasitic Jewish nation, which. speculates on the work of the people, will always find a way to prevail ....”
Source: Michael Bakunin, 1871, Personliche Beziehungen zu Marx. In: Gesammelte Werke. Band 3. Berlin 1924. P. 204-216. [My translation - UD].
http://theinfounderground.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=11785
Arthur P. Mandel, Michael Bakunin: Roots of Apocalypse, Praeger, New York 1981.
{p. 330} He must refute the charges of Hess and the rest of the "German Jews" who, he said, were all - except for Marx - out to get him. While he was "in no way either the enemy or the detractor of Jews," he told the editors of Le Reveil, to which he sent his response to Hess's criticism, he was convinced by "ethnographic history" that Jews were "par excellence exploiters of other peoples' labor" and, therefore, "completely opposed to the interests as well as the instincts of the proletariat." "I know very well," he went on, "that in frankly expressing my personal thoughts about the Jews I expose myself to enormous dangers. Many people share [these views], but very few dare to express them publicly, because the Jewish sect, far more formidable than Catholic Jesuits and the Protestants, constitute a real force in Europe today. They reign despotically in commerce and in the banks and have overrun three-quarters of the German press and a very significant part of the press of other countries. Too bad for anyone careless enough to displease them!" 86 {endnote 86: Bakounine, Oeuvres, vol. V, pp. 243-4}
Thanks for posting that.
If I keep reading this kind of stuff, I may eventually become stupid enough to stop worrying and start trusting the people in charge again.
Except the Catholics, of course.
its called a "depression" circa 2010. Maybe when Ben and Hank went to visit Nancy and Harry back in the early days of this crisis they were right. It was the end. Market pros like to say that bottoms are not single day events; they are a process. Maybe the ongoing crisis is also a process.
No. 38: According to one new survey, 24% of American workers say that they have postponed their planned retirement age in the past year.
_________________________________________________
Given the poor state of their 401K's, lack of equity in their home, high mortgage and credit card debt, etc, many may find themselves required to work until well after they're dead. Zombie employees.
I went the other route. I bailed myself out and retired early. Trading is just a hobby.
You da Man!
it was a stretch of words to make me look cool
Maybe #38 should read "According to one survey, 24% of American workers say that they have postponed their planned retirement age, period."
And how is #48 a 'ugly fact about the US eCONomy'?
#48) If you went out and spent one dollar every single second, it would take you more than 31,000 years to spend a trillion dollars.
Huh!? Let's get that one changed, ok team?
Example:
$48)If you went out and wanted to spend 1 trillion dollars at the apple store to impress the cool elite dudes at the genius bar, you'd have to buy 10,101,010,101.01 iPhones (8gig $99)(that's a lot of hand Jobs).
50% of people are below average in intelligence.
But how would they know that?
He's one of the 50%.
Simples.
To end this debate, ponder these:
Your thoughts!
Hah, I really have no idea what you're saying.
I didn't even know there was a debate.
A single person with a bad idea is not confident. Share the bad idea with millions and you soon have more than adequate confidence in the stupid idea.
Hence our latest administrations...
"If a million people do a silly thing, it's still a silly thing." -Berkeley Breathed
So you're not disagreeing, but saying I'm below average for saying it.
Fair enough. I don't even remember why I said it. The list just brought it to mind.
They don't. They think they're in charge.
Don't tell them. Shhhhhh!
Hey, you beat me to that trenchant observation which is true in all times and all countries. With 50% below 100 IQ its no wonder we don't have full employment and that most work in low paid service sector jobs. If we want full employment we need an agrian economy not a high tech one.
Is it true that 50% of people have an IQ less than 100? I would think that there would be some degree of clustering around the 100 mark and that perhaps 40% would be below 100 and 40% above 100.
I'm guessing at the actual figures. Just thinking that 100 is more the mode than the mean. I'd be content if anyone would care to disabuse me of this impression.
Yes and no. Depends whether you're looking at specific samples of data or the mathematical curve of that data.
Most of the places I've worked have made the skilled jobs so simple that even a fairly adept Rhesus monkey could "get 'er done." Of course, the monkey would still need a BA to get through the HR process.
This is not to say that a Rhesus monkey couldn't GET a BA. Just that he'd never qualify for the student loan because of the short lifespan and all.
Hey, you beat me to that trenchant observation which is true in all times and all countries. With 50% below 100 IQ its no wonder we don't have full employment and that most work in low paid service sector jobs. If we want full employment we need an agrian economy not a high tech one.
You guys are fuking idiots. Have you ever seen a bell curve? Of the 7 Trillion or so that live in the world, how many have an IQ of exactly 100?
Ahem. In 2008, the world's population was 6,697,254,041 and not 7 Trillion. What was all that about idiots and IQs again?
Such precision of numbers... no +/- error?...has to be kidding, right?
I'll just repeat what I said above in another response.
If you look at the collected data, yes, you're right. Most people will score 100 more than any other score. That's why 100 is set where it is at. It's the mathematical extrapolation of such date that creates the curve.
I don't think it really makes sense to ask how many people score exactly 100 given that the tests aren't exact in what they're attempting to measure.
"Some people don't want you to mention certain things. Some people don't want you to say this, some people don't want you to say that. Some people think if you say some things they might happen. Some people are real fuckin' stupid. You ever notice that, how many stupid people you run into? Goddamn there's some stupid bastards out there. Carry a pad and pencil with you, you'll come up with twenty names by the end of the day. Think about this; think about how stupid the average person is, and then realize that half of 'em are stupider than that." George Carlin
Ahhh, I was just thinking about Carlin the other day. I wonder if that's why my comment popped into my head.
It always seemed like about half the audience only laughed at him because they'd didn't know how else to react.
Carlin was our era's Mark Twain.
I believe you mean "fuking idjits."
You're welcome.
And 50% are above intelligence.
And when you know everything, the thing starts over, and it feels like you know nothing!
Glass is half full, too!
0.01% of the population are too smart for the rest to comprehend.
Someone at ZH, maybe.
"I'm trying to think, but nothing's happening. Nyuk, Nyuk"
-Curly
650,000 psychopaths sounds about right.
Yeah, might be a few outliners here.
Yea, but we lead the world in bitches, sluts, skanks, and ho's.
Oh, that reminds me, we do imprison more of our population than any other country, don't we? Something like 20% of the world's prisoners are in the US, right?
Something like that and most is for petty possession.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9077214414651731007#
like smoking drugs that cure cancer, tax evasion, for defending yourself against a thug with a badge; all sorts of criminal behaviors.
Releasing them would make the unemployment rate go up...at present...incarcerated aren't counted in the UE stats....even though technically they are unemployed.
papaswamp
People tend to forget that big money is made from prison labor in the US.
But we have an aging prison population which costs hundreds of millions to care for. That could run into the billions.
It probably does not balance out.
I was being a bit sarcastic....our incarceation rate is rediculous...usually for victimless crimes and drug addicts. Certainly the violent should be locked up.
The prisons that work as factories could just be legally converted into factories, though they might fail if labor costs are too high without the government subsidies. The other worry would be all of those unemployed cops. I'm less worried about the lawyers and judges who would be laid off were we to ever to liberate the system.
Yeah, that's about what I was trying to recall. Thanks.
The irony is so blatant in the land of the free where slavery has simply moved from the private market to being nationalized. Slave labor is now prison labor.
thesapien,
Well, we DO have to compete with China on some things.......
nice put.
"Following the rights movement you clamped down with your Iron Fist. Drugs became conveniently available for all the kids..."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JaMBEIM0kM
Dick Cheney and Friends™ needed the money, honest.
That should keep most of the populace busy for sometime to come.
You imply that's a bad thing.
You seem to imply that having 25% of the worlds prison population located in the United States is a good thing.
Take a closer look at Wackenhut Services -- not Bernanke and Geithner working the G20 peep show booths -- the Wackenhut Services that is the driving force behind the bloated prison population and militarization of pretty much every local police force in this country.
Dude, you misread who I was replying to...it was to the bitches, skanks, hos comment.
Yeah, the overlap between our criminal justice system and military industrial complex should be highlighted and not just looking at Haliburton either.
On #1, multiplying tax RATES by 2.4 won't increase tax REVENUE by the same amount. In fact tax revenue would likely decline. See: Laffer Curve.
Regarding #24...it looks like Illinois has finally beaten New York at something.
http://www.ioc.state.il.us/
I'm beaming with pride. Have a good weekend everybody!
# 51) Corrupt electeds are in a state of total capture by special interests.
Nice. I got too busy reading comments to add some of my own. That one sums up a few of them.
99% of Michigandians believe the depression started with the collapse of the Industrial Mid West whilst 99% of the rest of the US was too busy flipping homes and glued to seasons 1, 2 and 3 of American Idol.
I thought it was Michiganders or Michigoners.
Many Michiganders have become Michigoners. I hope to be one of them in the next year or two. Headin' South.
Come on down Blano. We have so much oil, you can literally pick it up off the beach!
Lol....sadly, I'm afraid that by the time I get there, the place will be ruined (I mean REALLY ruined). Will still take my chances though.
Michigonowhere's
lulz, bitches. Thanks for the laughs.
Michigoss
Militiagan
Militiagan.
May BE JUST the place to move TO............soon.
Upper.
I gotta weekend/bunker place in NE Indiana so I've been around southern Michigan, especially on Sundays. A good double-wide band of counties there--along old US 20--got CLOCKED in July 2008, unemployment-wise, just unbelievable. That's where RV's got made. Recall that Obama gave a couple early speeches from Elkhart, IN, which at one time sported the nation's top U-6 fig.
So as for that 99% and their belief, curious thing is they're right. 7/08, by the way, was roughly the midpoint between BSC and LEH.
All it takes is a liquidity event. Someone, some fund or a group cashing in on their stocks. As long as nobody makes any rash moves, the algos can push the markets higher on little or no volume whatsoever.The flash crash was such a move imo. Someone needed to pay a bill and make himself a paycheque.
With Zirp4eva, there is little incentive to divest into bonds and pull money from stocks that are at least on paper still moving upwards. Although Asian stocks moved up overnight because Korea made a rate move upward. Apparently a bullish signal that things are fine over there.
How many years did it take for the markets to reach the pre-crash levels. How many suckers "invested" over that time (not traded) and bought and held stock. How many were nearly or all wiped out of their gains in '08? The gains haven't been realized back. None of the banks are back to pre-crash levels other than GS was until recently. Unless someone had exactly those cherries in their portfolio that made 100% come back since the crash, they are at a loss.
Now there's less liquidity and credit is contracting. No chance in hell the money keeps pouring into the stock market as it did before.
Leo seems to think there is going to be a tidal wave of liquidity in the fall. How is that possible? What capitalizes the Fed so they can keep buying debt and stocks? What do they have on the other side of their balance sheet?
It's gotta stop some where and if there's no more uptrend then investors will pull out. Stagnant stock prices in a declining economy with fewer or possibly no dividends (BP).. yep, that money is not staying where it is right now.
"All it takes is a liquidity event. Someone, some fund or a group cashing in on their stocks. As long as nobody makes any rash moves, the algos can push the markets higher on little or no volume whatsoever.The flash crash was such a move imo. Someone needed to pay a bill and make himself a paycheque."
'a liquidity/redemption' event is exactly what brought bernie madoff out of the closet
walk,
"What capitalizes the Fed so they can keep buying debt and stocks?"
Last I heard, no one has yet figured out what happened to that 2 Trillion that somehow got LOST?????????....LOL
I know they never will also.
Plus QE has been pushing it up the done staircase for a spell.
i'm depressed & running scared, took what little $$$ i had to spare & went to buy a few more silver eagles from the coin guy . & HE SAID BUSINESS WAS SLOW !!! I'd think that people would be lined up around the corner to purchase as much silver as they could afford ! but, no! "business is slow" .
What we need is a new job for the unemployed: March on Washington. Maybe a parade down Wall Street. Camp out. Just sit there quietly (no violence!)
Could you imagine? It would make headlines around the world, and freak the criminals out.
Ron Paul should set up a one dollar all u can eat Texas BBQ at the big lawn in front of the white house and give speeches every day to the unemployed. People can camp out, get fed, get educated, and then we can watch the riot police and black helicopters move in on them! Yeah! That would be awesome!
And and then...we can like have Bruce Springsteen play and maybe like Billy grahm or something and Like sing we are the world. Damn...that would be cool. I think if we got all 40 million of the unemployed there we could take this country back! Screw you lucifer! You suck!
@starfish
This (Ron Pual BBQ) is a really good idea. Needs to be a cheap meal, though (inflation and all). McRon? McPaul?
K I'm gonna cal Ron tomorrow and pitch it
If you want cheap, spaghetti supper for 40 million. I'll have lots of spare tomatoes after this years harvest and making a tonnoe of tomatoe sauce, paste, salsa, pickled. I would do somethign with the rest but there is only so much time, mason jars and energy. I would donate them but saddly the food bank won't take them because they aren't certified by anybody.
So make it for end of october and I'm pretty sure I'll have around a 150 pounds of extra left over for sauce. I'll keep around 50 pounds of garlic and herbs on hand as well.