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Yes, It Is Halftime In America
Yes, It Is Halftime In America – So Now Is The Time To Get Your Financial Priorities In Order
Courtesy of Michael Snyder of Economic Collapse
Did you see the Chrysler commercial featuring Clint Eastwood that aired during the Super Bowl the other night? It was entitled "It's Halftime In America", and it was truly a great ad. To me, it was the most memorable Super Bowl ad this year by far. It conjured up images of the America that so many of us remember so fondly. It reminded us of how life in this country used to be. Unfortunately, America is currently headed down a road that is taking us in the opposite direction.
Yes, it is halftime in America, but there is no guarantee that what is ahead is going to be great. In fact, if we continue to make the same choices that we have been making, a national nightmare is inevitable. Let us hope and pray for a fundamental change of direction for America, but let us also prepare for what is going to happen if that does not take place. There is a "pause in the action" at the moment, so now is the time to get your financial priorities in order. Now is the time to prepare for the storm that is coming. If you wait until the storm is right on top of you it will probably be too late.
But I must admit that I really loved that ad. First of all, any Super Bowl ad that includes Clint Eastwood is almost automatically going to be a great ad. Secondly, it was very refreshing to see a commercial address some of the very serious problems that this country is facing.
The ad ended with Eastwood making the following statement....
"This country can't be knocked out with one punch. We get right back up again, and when we do the world is going to hear the roar of our engines. Ya, it's halftime in America, and our second half is about to begin"
A video of the complete ad is posted below....
Kudos to Chrysler for producing such an extraordinary ad. I have to admit that I actually prefer Chrysler to Ford and GM. I like their style and I think they make some very nice vehicles.
But Chrysler is far from out of the woods. They almost went under during the last recession, and if the U.S. economy experiences another major recession they might not survive it.
Yes, Chrysler did earn $183 million in 2011.
But in 2010, Chrysler lost $652 million.
Hopefully Chrysler can string a few more profitable years together, but there is certainly no guarantee that is going to happen.
As I have written about previously, the U.S. auto industry is in the midst of a nightmarish long-term decline.
The combined U.S. market share of the "Big Three" U.S. automakers fell from 70% in 1998 to 53% in 2008.
When you examine the numbers over a longer time frame, they are even more striking.
For example, in 1970 General Motors had about a 60 percent share of the U.S. automobile market, but today that figure is down to about 20 percent.
In an effort to cut costs, U.S. automakers have been eliminating jobs and sending jobs out of the country.
In the year 2000, the U.S. auto industry employed more than 1.3 million Americans. Today, the U.S. auto industry employs about 698,000 people.
So the U.S. auto industry has not exactly bounced back.
They have survived for now, but there is no guarantee that this is going to be permanent.
Many considered the Chrysler Super Bowl ad to be an endorsement of the auto bailouts and of the economic policies of the Obama administration.
But that wasn't the case at all. In fact, it turns out that Clint Eastwood was actually a harsh critic of the auto bailouts as Reuters recently noted....
"We shouldn't be bailing out the banks and car companies," actor, director and Academy Award winner Eastwood told the Los Angeles Times in November 2011. "If a CEO can't figure out how to make his company profitable, then he shouldn't be the CEO."
And Clint Eastwood certainly did not mean to endorse Obama during the commercial. The following is what Eastwood told Fox News about the ad....
"I just want to say that the spin stops with you guys, and there is no spin in that ad. On this I am certain.
l am certainly not politically affiliated with Mr. Obama. It was meant to be a message about just about job growth and the spirit of America. I think all politicians will agree with it. I thought the spirit was OK."
The cold, hard reality of the matter is that America has not "bounced back" since 2008. Sadly, the truth is that we are even in worse condition than we were back then....
-Our national debt has risen by about 50 percent since 2008.
-Our states are in more debt than ever.
-Our local governments are in more debt than ever.
-The U.S. economy has lost about 6 million jobs since 2008.
-Approximately 14 million more Americans have gone on food stamps since Barack Obama became president.
-More Americans are living in poverty than ever before.
-New home sales in the United States hit a brand new all-time record low during 2011.
-The number of "long-term unemployed workers" has more than doubled since Barack Obama entered the White House.
-The amount of money that the federal government gives directly to Americans has increased by 32 percent since Barack Obama entered the White House.
-Despite claims that things are "getting better", the truth is that the percentage of Americans that actually have jobs is almost exactly the same as it was two years ago.
Amazingly, Barack Obama seems to think that he has done a good job and that he deserves a second term. On Sunday, Obama told NBC's Matt Lauer the following....
"I deserve a second term, but we’re not done"
Many Americans are buying into the hype. A new ABC News/Washington Post poll has found that Barack Obama's approval rating is actually rising.
But it won't last long. As the economy crumbles his approval rating will start going down once again.
The sad truth is that America is in the middle of a long-term economic decline because our economy is not built on a solid foundation.
The false prosperity that we are enjoying now is being fueled by the biggest debt bubble in the history of the world. We consume far more wealth than we produce, and we pay for it by constantly going into more debt.
At some point the merry-go-round is going to stop and when it does it is going to be incredibly painful.
An increasing number of Americans are waking up to this reality. One recent survey found that 61 percent of all Americans believe that there will be "a major catastrophic event" in the United States within the next 20 years. A significant portion of them believe that the "catastrophic event" will be economic in nature.
That same survey found that only 15 percent of all Americans feel as though they are completely prepared for the coming catastrophic event.
Remember what happened back in 2008. When the financial crisis struck, millions of Americans lost their jobs very rapidly. Since many of them did not have any money stored up, a lot of them lost their homes as well.
Since it is "halftime in America", now is the time to get prepared for the next great financial crisis.
Now is the time to reduce your expenses.
Now is the time to get out of debt.
Now is the time to set aside some money so that you will have something to live on if you do happen to lose your job. I typically recommend that you have at least 6 months of living expenses stored up.
Now is the time to start a side business. Even if you are broke, there are some businesses out there that you can start up for no money. It isn't easy to start a business with no money, but it can be done.
Now is the time to grow a garden. Fruits and vegetables are often some of the most expensive items at the grocery store, and by growing them yourself you become less dependent on the system.
And that is the key. We all want to try to become less dependent on the system.
There is no guarantee that your job will always be there.
There is no guarantee that your insurance company or the financial institutions that you are working with today will always be there.
There is no guarantee that the government will be there "to save you" when you really need it.
Yes, it is halftime in America.
So get ready for the second half, because it is going to be a real nightmare.
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I liked him better in "Play Misty for Me."
The Gauntlet
Paint Your Wagon, pikers.
Bah...scooped by OldPhart. Well-played.
Paint Your Wagon
If you've never seen it, you WON'T believe this clip!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzVM6Q4YwAA
Ha Ha...You win!
For a Few Dollars More
...Wait, isn't that the root of our current problems, not to mention the attempted "solution?"
Josey Wales.
Dead Pool
Was best in his early Dirty Harry character
The only hope America has is to clone Ron Paul with Les Grossman:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vODwqfuL3Bw&feature=results_main&playnext...
Do not play in an office or family environment unless using headphones!
The Half time ad that Clint should have delivered.. compliments to Rush
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WqT7z38FhQQ
HBO had an old film of Clint as an Arizona Depudy that went to NYC to get a crook. I had never seen this old flick and was amazed it was on over here in Thailand. Maybe he should've pulled out a long barrelled 44 mag, put it to some politicitan's head and said "Make my Day".
Sounds like "The Gauntlet" starring one of his ex-wives. There's a building in the Phx shots with a round top - rotating restaurant, or was. Haven't been back there in a long time and certainly not downtown.
nah, it's the 4th quarter with no more time outs, game over!
I disagree. I think it's 'game over':
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-ok7-4aZ1M
Burp, Fart, - "When's American Idol on?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cU7bD1O1Quc
Can anyone take this world seriously?
I just love that limbaugh and rove jumped on Eastwood about the ad. Dirty Harry would and should bitch slap those pricks.
Don't confuse the character with the actor...that is partly why we are in this mess..living in a fantasy world created by hollywood and the media.
The second half is really going to suck.
Coach, I pulled my groin. Can I sit out the second half?
As long as the labor market is distorted by union wages and collective bargaining Detroit will continue to make piece of shit cars.
200 years of jurisprudence was shit canned when Barry favored the unions over the bondholders.
And now everyone knows what the bankers know; this shit aint getting fixed, so loot and steal as much as you can from Lady Liberty's corpse before it's all gone.
As to you Clint; Buzzards gotta eat, same as worms.
please read up on the portion of the private sector labor force that is unionized and the Ford $5 a day wage as demand creation. Yes the bondholder cram down sucked. But it was peanuts compared to the prior and ongoing screw jobs we are all getting from the banks. You are a nerd bitching about a noogie last week when the rest of the class just had their longbones shattered in a bus crash.
Is it the 12% of the private workforce that is unionized that is distorting the labor market or is it the "JOB CREATORS" that ship millions of manufacturing and service jobs overseas?
"as long as the labor market is distorted by union wages"
yeah, a 10 buck an hour job goes a lot further in getting people out of poverty than a $25 an hour union job would.
anyone who thinks that the problems this country faces will be solved by the elimination of all unions isn't thinking clearly or is already rich......no one person in my industty is in a union and ALL haven't had rasie of significance in more than a decade if at all
How much should the guy who applies the rear view mirror make?
its not the free market's job to solve your problems
remember that
BOY
Tell it to "the bondholders".
Bitch.
Less than 7% of the country's labor force is unionized. Yeah, it is the union's fault. You got one thing right, fuck the banks, prosecute the fucking fraud already. The downward spiral will continue until the rule of law is re-established. if that takes WWIII, so be it. hedge accordingly.
In winger world if it wasn't for Unions, old people and Liberals it would be morning in America.
I hear jackboots coming.
Sad statistic: most UNION JOBS in this Banana Republic are now in the Public Sector.
Wow, 7% you say they sure give a lot of money to their favorite pols almsot like citizens united balanced the playing field, hmm
Top all time donors... http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php 12 of the top 20 in fact, that 7% is getting raped to fund it.. Think they get their moneys worth??
Learn to count...union contributions are a drop in the bucket compared to corporate donations.
Welcome UAW stooge.
Fuck off, Koch-sucker.
Your list of Obama's accomplishments put a smile on my face. Add to it his undelivered promises for real financial reform. I also have to laugh when I think back to his time as a Senator when he said it was un-American to raise the debt ceiling (during GW's term as prez) and yet, observe what he has done...kinda similar to calling out the Super PAC's last year and now supporting them. This guy has no moral compass, no ethics and no backbone whatsoever...It's all about staying in power (politics Chicago style)...I can't believe the MSM does not call him out on any of this stuff!
I read the article in the New York Times, inclusive of a comment from Karl Rove about how the bailed out car industry was 'supporting' Obama with these ads, a comment sure to fuel partisan fodder over breakfast, and thought, gross.
As usual, the New York Times and the rest of the corporate press does nothing to report real news, they are more and more an infomercial for Big Pharma and only serve to support the Left/Right Banana Republic paradigm thus aiding and abetteting the swindle of the American people.
The real story is that the new Subprime Bubble guarateed by the Tax Payer is being created with the government's guarantee of Subprime Consumer Loans. These loans will be made to people who have nothing to lose, since subprime means that their credit is already bad, so who cares, right? A large majority will default, and the tax payers will pay the banks for these loans at 100 cents on the dollar.
If the government wants to give subprime borrowers cars, they should do it- directly. This would stimulate the economy more than giving this money to the TBTF banks. If they want to give students going into a horrible job market, an expensive education, they should do it directly. Instead, we get this pig wrapped up in political mumbo jumbo, made to look like some kindly Sheeple loving gesture by the politicians. Yeah right.
This is just more Moral Hazard brought to us by the same people who brought us the Subprime Housing Bubble, the Subprime Sovereign Debt Bubble, and every other economy destroying bubble.
The last place I want my tax money to go is to the TBTF banks, so that they can use it to lobby Congress for more Moral Hazard promoting legislation, since truthfully, all that our government seems to be capable of doing, with every move they make, is lining the pockets of their masters at the expense of the majority of the American people.
Halftime my ass. It's more like it's the 4th Quarter, we've hit the 2-minute warning, Barry Soetoro is our Quarterback, and we're down 28 points...
You are some fucking optimist... we're only down 28 ? Then we got us a chance ...
Puke.
barry soetoro is the QB and bernake is the coach. geithner appears missing at the moment - along with corzine
Corzine took the ball. And the stopwatch, beetches.
To Kenya with Barry Soetoro's grandmother?
wasted one timeout on a failed challenge call and one on keeping from taking a anither delay of game penalty
got put back 10 more yards with a delay of game penalty so we wouldnt waste another timeout
another ten yards for unnessecary roughness against OUR OWN PLAYERS, LOL
running back has a sprained ankle from running to the mailbox for the food stamp check last week and tripped and fell.
it seems our coaches are realy sucking right now
Chrysler always made a good looking car on the outside, it's just that inside it's a bunch of cheap shit and poorly engineered that cuts corners. It nearly killed Mercedes by infecting it with the same. Ever take a good look, ride, or talk to a knowledgable mechanic about a 1998 Mercedes? It's a piece of severely over-priced shit. That's why Mercedes got rid of Chrysler, it's a piece of shit.
53.5% Fix It Again Tony.
I drove and worked on my own 1977 Toyota Corolla for close to 20 years, Mercedes are over-engineered maintence nightmares even to the new sucked in C models. I paid cash for an SL-500 from my gold stock gains in 2008. Same as my house, it lost 68% the day I signed the paperwork. I sold the car for 28K but I'm still stuck for a townhouse in FLL that I paid 750K for that's worth on Zillow for 161K because it has Knauf Chinese Drywall and is worthless. No possibility of a short sale or default because I need my credit rating so I make the payments each month. Akak why are you in Alaska and where were you before you went there?
Chicken in Thailand (Pattaya)
CL: I'm a real estate professional, so you can trust me in regards to that house in FLL. The next time you go out of town for the weekend, turn on the gas.
Say hello to the girls on Walking Street for me.... (make sure they are girls first though)
Quality should be what counts, in all things.
If more people demanded quality and craftsmanship, like they used to in the old days, we wouldn't have a culture where everything is made to be disposable. The widespread acceptance of poor quality in America, and now even in parts of Europe, is only good for the monopolists who can sell people cheap crap that lasts five minutes or is bad for your health. It's up to us to stop buying it. If we don't, we only have ourselves to blame.
Quality should be what counts, in all things.
If more people demanded quality and craftsmanship, like they used to in the old days, we wouldn't have a culture where everything is made to be disposable. The widespread acceptance of poor quality in America, and now even in parts of Europe, is only good for the monopolists who can sell people cheap crap that lasts five minutes or is bad for your health. It's up to us to stop buying it. If we don't, we only have ourselves to blame.
Agreed. Buy nice, don't buy twice. Outfitted my garage with a Crossfit setup over the past few years. Mostly American made stuff. Very high quality. Based on gym membership costs alone, it has already paid itself off, and will last the rest of my adult life if need be. I have a few Chinese items...absolute trash. Huge difference.
Look at wages and inflation from 1971 to present. Americans can't afford quality anymore. BUT, believe me I hear your point.