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Ron Paul Exposes The Fed-Driven Erosion Of US Living Standards
Submitted by Ron Paul via The Free Foundation,
One of the least discussed, but potentially most significant, provisions in President Obama’s budget is the use of the “chained consumer price index” (chained CPI), to measure the effect of inflation on people’s standard of living. Chained CPI is an effort to alter the perceived impact of inflation via the gimmick of “full substitution." This is the assumption that when the price of one consumer product increases, consumers will simply substitute a similar, lower-cost product with no adverse effect. Thus, the government decides your standard of living is not affected if you can no longer afford to eat steak, as long as you can afford to eat hamburger.
The problem with “full substitution” should be obvious to anyone not on the government payroll. Since consumers did not choose to buy lower-priced beef before inflation raised the price of steak, they obviously preferred steak. So if the Federal Reserve’s policies create inflation that forces you to purchase hamburger instead of steak, your standard of living is lowered. CPI already uses this sort of substitution to mask the costs of inflation, but chained CPI uses those substitutions more frequently, thereby lowering the reported rate of inflation.
Supporters of chained CPI also argue that the government should take into account technology and other advances that enhance the quality of the products we buy. By this theory, increasing prices signal an increase in our standard of living! While it is certainly true that advances in technology improve our standard of living, it is also true that, left undisturbed, market processes tend to lower the prices of goods. Remember the mobile phones from the 1980s? They had limited service, constantly needed charging, and were extremely expensive. Today, almost all Americans can easily afford a mobile device to make and receive calls, texts, and e-mails, as well as use the Internet, watch movies, read books, and more.
The same process occurred with personal computers, cars, and numerous other products. If left alone, the operations of the market place will deliver higher quality and lower prices. It is only when the government interferes with the operation of the market, especially via fiat money, that consumers must contend with constant price increases.
The goal of chained CPI is to decrease the government's obligation to meet its promise to keep up with the cost of living in programs like Social Security. But it does not prevent individuals who have a nominal increase in income from being pushed into a higher income bracket. Both are achieved without a vote of Congress.
Noted financial analyst Peter Schiff correctly calls chained CPI a measurement of the cost of survival. Instead of using inflation statistics as a political ploy to raise taxes and artificially cut spending, the President and Congress should use a measurement that actually captures the eroding standard of living caused by the Federal Reserve’s inflationary policies. Changing government statistics to exploit the decline in the American way of life and benefit big spending politicians and their cronies in the big banks does nothing but harm the American people.
And here is Ron Paul addressing - among other things - the counter-factual supporting the "but what would we do without them" argument for the Fed...
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"Chained" consumer price index. One can't help but notice the subtle subconsious/freudian associations these academics are formulating.
Great comment coming from a ship, the USS Bernanke, that has run aground and is leaking fiat all over the shores of Liberty.
DaddyO
The same process occurred with personal computers, cars, and numerous other products. If left alone, the operations of the market place will deliver higher quality and lower prices.
The fact that the examples Paul cites are all heavily subsidized aside, there aren't indicators that the 'market place' will automatically deliver higher quality at lower costs. Take a couple of America's most famous brands, Wal-Mart & McDonalds, they're really delivering higher quality at lower prices? It's all a race to the bottom.
Its lower quality at lower prices. Walmart is chock full of JUNK made from china. Used to be you could buy a toaster for $20 and it would probably last 20 years. Now you get the toaster today for $20 but it only lasts 2 years. Same price right? No inflation right? But it lasts 1/10th as long. So in reality that $20 toaster is really a $200 toaster because you need to buy 10 of them instead of 1. Thats how they hide inflation too, in addition to that chained CPI bullshit. Everything is built like shit to fail, so you have to buy more often. Its a Paul Krugman/Keynesian wet dream!!
Funny you mention that Scotty. Just threw away a Black & Decker coffee maker that lasted 22 years. I will probably never see another one like it in my lifetime.
James Cole seems to be a gov't shill/troll on many subjects around here.
Don't buy a keurig single cup coffee maker - they suck balls. Work great for about 3 months - then it's done.
I bought a $50 Bodum (about the only brand on the market) french press (a kind of coffee brewer) which broke on THE SECOND USE! Looking more closely at it, I realized that the idiots who made the utterly and abominably cheap piece of shit had a threaded metal rod on the pressing part screwed into a threaded PLASTIC piece! Threaded metal into threaded (thin) plastic? I'm not an engineer, but even I would know that that is a recipe for short-term failure.
La Cafetiere Classic Nouveau Coffee Press Stainless Steel, 8C. 34-Ounce : Amazon.com : Kitchen & Dining
Today’s article at the Accredited Times exposes the hypocrisy of radicals like Ron Paul and how libertarians are not only wrong, but dangerous:
http://accredited-times.com/2013/11/11/libertarians-exposed/
MDB, Are you really as dumb as you sound?
As dumb, and even dumber.
He used to be kind of funny. Now, not so much.
Sadly, many Americans would consider that post to be taken seriously.
So..., until the masses start starving to death, there is no food inflation.
Got it...
Oh dear, you have offended someone. +1 because I can.
Trav777 posted something with this in it and I busted a gut:
" We are ALL the same and from this sameness comes diversity that is our strength."
http://accredited-times.com/2013/10/04/investing-in-the-middle-class-the...
It is satire......I saw trav777 was listed as a writer. I like how he trashes the first amendment while exercising it(make bad mouthing the fed a crime!). I'm thinking Onion or a frustrated Mad wannabe writer. Obamcare is making us a civil society ....really?
Today’s article at the Encrapulated Times exposes the hypocrisy of statists and sociopaths like, well, EVERY politician, and how parastical statists are not only wrong, but dangerous:
http://encrapulated-times.com/2013/11/11/MDB'S-bullshit-exposed/
My favorite:
http://discredited-times.com/2013/11/11/libertarians-exposed-genitals-MDB-goes-miley/
Disinfo specialist designed to tear intellectual communities apart by creating fake paradigms and distractions from the real news stories?
This has got to be satire.
From MDB's link:
""What Can We Do About It
Libertarianism isn’t just another political view that can coexist with other political ideas. Libertarianism seeks to destroy other political ideologies entirely by attacking the foundations of our liberal democracy: our government. Without a state or central bank, other political ideologies have no tools with which to build a prosperous and equal society. Libertarianism simply has to be eliminated because it fundamentally cannot coexist with legitimate political ideologies.
There are a number of things that we can do to rid the world of libertarianism. The first thing we can do is to introduce laws against criticizing the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States of America. This is clearly an act of terrorism and cannot be tolerated in a modern democracy. Next, we can encourage the NSA to start profiling and monitoring the most influential libertarians. It’s important to make sure that libertarian views to do not get out of hand because before we know it, it might be too late. Lastly, something we as progressives can all do is continue to expose the underlying corporate interests such as the Koch Brothers that lurk behind almost every libertarian initiative. When the American people find out the corporateinterests are behind the many libertarian policy initiatives that were sold to them as selfless attempts to save the economy, libertarians will lose all credibility overnight.
We as progressives need to join together in a crusade against this bigoted and nihilistic ideology before it consumes our society. It is up to those with the vision and courage to eliminate libertarianism to do so now, so that our children have the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of our equal society just as we have."
J. Edgar Hoover, is that you? Joe McCarthy?
Jesus fucking christ, don't let those clowns see this or they'll start getting ideas in their heads. "introduce laws against criticizing the Federal Reserve"? I bet they'd be all for that.
MDB's posts aren't satire. We all have thought that, but I think he's genuinely passionate about what he says. This guy is a KOOK.
Another great TIC article MDB.
Your website is indeed very funny... Well done.
what's hilarious is how monedas is running roughshod over the comments section there.
MDB, you went for a swim.
We were really worried.
I was up all night pacing.
We're so glad you're back
akak, you dont need a coffee brewer. brew your coffee in a large pyrex glass measuring cup (4 cup one), cover it, sit for 4 minutes and pour into a small tea strainer. done.
Thanks Kito, and you know, that very thought had occurred to me --- AFTER buying an all stainless steel, heavy-duty German-made french press. At least this latest one hasn't broken yet.
I got a nice 48 oz press at a little cafe in upstate New York. I am going on four years with it now. Takes five minutes to make the coffee and its the best I've ever had. French press really is the best cofee.
Those frenchies know about putting stuff in your belly.
Something make me think your wonderful press was constructed in China. But I tend to be a bit cynical. Hot water, metal and plastic together is not a good combination. At least you didn't scald yourself. Then AnAnonomous and others would get the last laugh.
Miffed;-)
Alas, alas, three scalding burns alas, just have to bear with the scars.
I had to finally dispose of an electric fry pan that I inherited from my mother. It was Farberware and had sixteen heat control settings. It was so beautifully balanced not only with heat but also in weight. I will miss it and doubt I can get an equal replacement for it. The name of the game now is designed obsolescence.
I shop Ebay for old well built stuff like that.
Bought some incredible cast iron pans off craigslist - they are older than I am.
Ditto for an old Fridgedare refrigerator we inherited from my wife's mom. Still humming along keeping the beers ice cold after some 40 - 50 years. Meanwhile, the piece of shit GE super duper computer-brain-every-compartment-temp-and-climate controlled has cost us some $600 to replace electronics only after 6 years!
Other 'inflation' factors are the add-ons to new purchases. E.g., you can add another $100 to your cell for shell covers, chargers, warranties, services, etc., etc.
I am on my third hamilton beech made, third party branded, coffee maker this year. Sucker makes good coffee when it works but the 1st time a heating element failed and the 2nd time an electirc clock. Easy return policy, clip the cord email thme a photo and you are done.
But what the @#$% good design but lousy execution/build quality.
I live in an eight year old house, I just replaced six toliet flush mechanism as all were failing and have had multiple light switches start to fail. Such junk.
My foks have lived in the same house since 1970 and never had a light switch fail and maybe one one flush mechanism in all the years. So much of todays manufacture is crap. The one major exception seems to be the auto industry were quaility does seem to be a priority.
Don't get me started on chinese made light bulbs.
You have six toilets? I have two, unless you count pissing off the deck. I only do that at night - I'm not a hillbilly.
I have two decks..but sometimes I will piss in the day off of one if the wind is blowing the right way...singing in my best Jerry Jeff Walker voice
I would never want to live anywhere where I could not (discreetly) take a piss in my own backyard.
--Mark Twain
Same here. My n'hood is 7-9 years old. The fix of the day? Garage door coil springs. I'm pretty sure the house I grew up in has the originals. I'm waiting for mine to snap. .... In a prior new n'hood, like clockwork, everyone's GE ranges started experiencing heating element problems--about 6 months to one year after the warranty. I'm with you on the light bulbs, too. I've never got close the 1000s of advertised hours out of any bulb in the last 10 years.
"What's a toilet?"
-AnAnonymous
ROR!
I can remember reading a history of World War II, in which the author recalled an episode during or immediately after the Russian capture of Berlin. A group of Russian soldiers was standing in the bathroom of an abandoned German house, puzzling over a strange, circular, water-filled porcelain contraption sitting on the floor. After some experimentation and further discussion, they decided that it must be a device for washing potatoes.
I perc my coffee on the stove. I got sick of coffeemakers breaking every other year.
For one cup, all you need is one of those plastic cones that sits on the cup and holds a paper filter. For two cups, buy two cones.
cowboy coffee:
One old blue granite coffee pot from the camping section at the local wally world to set on the campfire(cant find that damn strainer basket and tube). Place three or four heaping tablespoons of coffee in an old tube sock. Preferably one that you have not been deer hunting in for the last 12 hours, but, a man has to do what a man has to do. Fill the pot up with water, place on the campfire. As that rich coffee aroma hits your nose and mouth, think about about all the poor saps drinking boiled sawdust from the local convience store or worse yet 5 dollar a cup, taste like crap coffee from starbucks with whipped cream and cupcake sprinkles.
.
Example of chained substitution demonstrating zero inflation:
Year 1: BMW M6
Year 2: Ford Focus
Year 3: 1983 Accord
Year 4: Vespa
Year 5: Schwinn
Year 6: Used Adidas
Year 7: Bare feet
Yabba Dabba Doo!
Year 9: You're giving a Chinese man a tour of LA; you're pulling him in your rickshaw.
In the snow. Uphill.....both ways.
I'm at 5 and 6 & 7.
I still have the same HP 12-c calculator from college, way back from 1991. It's banged up, i've dropped dozens of time over the years however works perfect. It is now a classic and probably a collectors item because it has these words engraved on the back.
"MADE IN AMERICA"
The new ones are not even made in China anymore....too expenvice to make there. I believe they are made in brazil
And I still have that Chevy Vega that I, um... wait!
I remember replacing spark plugs on a highly regular basis. There is, as anyone who pays attention to full accounting, an issue of operational costs to consider as well.
It's always been a dilema for myself as to whether it's a good idea to turn over tools or to stay using old ones that might not be as functional as newer ones... My tractor, circa 2006, is clearly superior to tractors that are much older. My 20 year-old truck, however, is drwarfed by the sheer power of the newer ones; but, operational costs, long-term, make up for this (if I have a job that's bigger than my truck then I go rent something that meets my requirements).
Keep in mind that the current manufacturing processes are geared toward chasing more market share. This should tell you that things HAVE to get cheaper as goods are being pushed toward lower income peoples.
GD,
I have one of those 12c calculators, and an 11c, AND an HP41CX
they are just great devices :)
Me too. The 12C has been my #1 go-to calculator for many years. We should form a club...
Manufacturing is undergoing a game-changing revoloution. Anyone aware of trends realizes that the products we use have increased exponentially in performance if not price, especially in the technology arena. Oh sure, everyone has an old coffee maker or electric shaver or calculator but the essence of competition is creating a better product for market share. The biggest revolutions - no moving parts, efficiency and miniaturization, has hit so hard and so fast we hardly notice. Unless you have a monopoly, products either improve or go extinct - Blackberry, Blockbuster, 8 track, desk top oomputers, My Space, Windows, etc
When did 8 tracts go extinct?
What are you talking about something from 1990s being old? I still have my TI72 calculator from my high schools years in the 70s.....works perfectly fine still
Mine's Made in Malaysia. They must be so proud.
That $20 toaster you bought 20 years ago would cost roughly $35 in today's dollars ... so you got a bargain on the last one. What do you want for nothing?
Love how you critique the Tech industry for being heavily subsidized, which is not accurate, but had no issues saying that the best examples are doing the opposite of what Ron Paul says while ignoring how heavily both of them are subsidized...
At least your hypocrisy is consistent.
personal computers, cars
I quoted his specific examples, personal computers were based on DARPA tech and in particular the reason most people now use computer devices - the internet - came from arpanet. People talk a lot about Xerox, ignoring that the xerox research was bankrolled by .gov. This isn't ancient history either, the military continues to be heavily involved directly and indiretly with tech which later shows up in consumer devices (use GPS at all?). Even Google had early support from NSF.
Cars have been among the most heavily .gov subsidized devices on Earth, whether it's Japan, Korea, Germany, UK or USA.
You assume that if .gov hadn't assisted then the invention wouldn't have happened, or if it did happen, prices would be much higher.
It's very typical of a .gov troll/shill to try and prove the unknown.
Maybe Ron Paul should've used weed-whackers and Chia Pets as examples instead.
You assume that if .gov hadn't assisted then the invention wouldn't have happened, or if it did happen, prices would be much higher.
Did I say that? Nope.
No, but you sure as fuck implied it.
James Cole: "I never met an aspect of big government and the corrupt status-quo that I didn't like".
It's akin to the stupid Who would build the roads? argument.
He who benefits the most over their lifetime by having the roads in the first place. Cui Bono.
It's really quite absurd to argue that because innovations emanated from the Military, subsequent private sector development and use of such technologies were "subsidized".
They are not the same thing at all.
because innovations emanated from the Military, subsequent private sector development and use of such technologies were "subsidized".
Not just innovation but also buying the tech. The military has been one of the biggest buyers of much of this stuff, which encouraged development when it would have otherwise been totally uneconomical.
Ideology meet reality.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelkanellos/2013/07/16/behind-the-tea-pa...
“Are New York bondholders more important than Georgia ratepayers?” Jason Rooks, a lobbyist for the Georgia Solar Energy Association, asks rhetorically. “This is about free market. This is about property rights. It is about technology and innovation.”
Oh the irony!
That's a fair point, but what percentage of such developmenys result in similar situations?Most, like the computer components which you mentioned earlier, would have taken off on their own through the private sector irrespective of unecessary military demand.
Most, like the computer components which you mentioned earlier, would have taken off on their own through the private sector irrespective of unecessary military demand.
If the history of the world was different, it would be different - yes. I'm just pointing out how things actually happened. Technology and military have always gone hand in hand throughout human history, hopefully that'll change but it hasn't yet.
When people like Ron Paul start talking about 'free markets' and bring up things like computers their points are completely ahistorical and basically nonsensical.
Sure say what you want. Personal Computers were essentially an invention of Apple when the few other private groups that were building kits were agreeing with the other companies that said no one would want a PC, you can thank them for making them truly possible though. They were not building them on gov grants either.
Arpanet came after the gov discovered that some Professors had been experimenting with the technology already. I have told you this before, but being the state apologist and suck up that you are, it's obvious that you are incapable of actually learning something that does not conform to your particular worldview. You are wrong, just as you have been wrong about this previously. Arpanet came after the methods was figured out to build it by Professors in their spare time. There have been several books written about this topic including one by the guy that is creditted with inventing TCP.
Cars were invented without the gov being involved. Most of the development and over bearing cost of them is because of government intrusion, so it's obvious that they have moved in to subsidized and enhance their control over that market as time has gone by.
Again you're ignoring the causal chains of events as usual and making shit up as you go along. Typical statist behavior to rewrite history to justify your promotion of gov intrusion. You are little better than Dick Cheney and Obama.
Do we owe space flight to Newton because he discovered the laws of gravity attraction?
Do we even have SPACE flight anymore?
Next up: Time Masheen
pods
You make so many broad claims and cite nothing.
Arpanet came after the gov discovered that some Professors had been experimenting with the technology already.
Lol, '.gov' was wandering around some unknown building when it suddenly discovered some professors experimenting 'with the technology' (what this technology was shall remain a mystery) and thus arpanet was birthed!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Internet
^ come up with a source that counters any of this, then we can discuss something specific for a change.
Which came first chicken or the egg counter argument.
Apple couldn't have built that personal computer in a price range and size the average person could afford without the invention of the Integrated Circuit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_circuit
Newly employed by Texas Instruments, Kilby recorded his initial ideas concerning the integrated circuit in July 1958, successfully demonstrating the first working integrated example on 12 September 1958.[10] In his patent application of 6 February 1959, Kilby described his new device as “a body of semiconductor material … wherein all the components of the electronic circuit are completely integrated.”[11] The first customer for the new invention was the US Air Force.[12]
Texas Instruments may have been the private entity but I can guarantee they had military funding pumped into the company to develop the IC in the first place. Same with Fairchild Semiconductor.
Noyce also came up with his own idea of an integrated circuit half a year later than Kilby. His chip solved many practical problems that Kilby's had not. Produced at Fairchild Semiconductor, it was made of silicon, whereas Kilby's chip was made of germanium.
Fairchild Semiconductor was also home of the first silicon gate IC technology with self-aligned gates, which stands as the basis of all modern CMOS computer chips. The technology was developed by Italian physicist Federico Faggin in 1968, who later joined Intel in order to develop the very first Central Processing Unit (CPU) on one chip (Intel 4004), for which he received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 2010.
Texas Instruments designed and manufactured the first transistor radio and Jack Kilby invented the integrated circuit in 1958 while working at TI's Central Research Labs. The company produced the first integrated circuit-based computer for the U.S. Air Force in 1961.
(worth highlighting incase anyone had questions about who this tech was for)
Jesus. H. F***ing Christ.
The first transistors were invented at Bell Lab, without a dime of government money. While Kilby may get the credit for the first IC, the reality is Bell Labs produced one in a few more months - they, and many other groups (doubtless IBM was one of them) - were all working to the same goal. At some point, someone is the first to put all the new pieces of the kit together, and Kilby gets credit for that, but the idea of the IC was inevitable. And Bell and IBM were private companies, trying to develop IC's because it increased their profits. BTW, Bell Labs was the first to produce MOSFET IC's (in 1960, less than a year after Kilby's patent), which are the basis of all CPU's today.
It would be stupid to say that government doesn't occasionally bump a project along more quickly than it might have occured if the market had been left to work. From Ferdinand and Isabella to the moon project, there are instances of successful government intervention. As they say, even a blind pig finds an acorn once in a while. But the huge innovation in telecoms came AFTER the government stopped supporting Bell's closed system, and the explosive growth of the intertubes wouldn't have happened if it had been left to a group of bureaucrats to decide what websites would be allowed, what material they'd be allowed to publish, what their domain name would be allowed to be, etc. (Can you imagine your DMV running the intertubes?)
And I worked for a fast food chain. Yes, our beef was frozen - is your freezer at home empty? What is inherently 'bad' or 'crappy' about frozen food? Our toppings were made from fresh vegetables, cut that day - I know, I did the cutting. In any decent sized operation, there is one guy whose only job is cleaning, all day long. I wouldn't eat fast food every meal, every day of the week, but I wouldn't eat hamburgers for dinner at home every night, either. If people choose to eat fries and Coke with their burger instead of a salad and milk, whose fault is that? Do you think they'd be eating salad at home, and not tater-tots or fritos? And for that bogus 'McDonald's hamburger that didn't rot for a year' - the "Food Labs" guy at seriouseats.com did his own test. When he cooked home made burgers, made from fresh beef, without any toppings, they didn't rot either. Something to do with a lack of moisture, IIRC.
"Cars have been among the most heavily .gov taxed devices on Earth, whether it's Japan, Korea, Germany, UK or USA. "
There fixed it for you. Let's not even go into gasoline taxes, emissions inspections, license plates, mandatory insurance, tolls and all the rest.
For your argument to be correct, DARPA and other government agencies that invest in tech and whatever else must be better investors than the people the money was taken from. The money was taken from individuals and productive companies who might have built up capital, invested more wisely, and overall put the money to better use.
In effect, may if the gov/DARPA et al were absent, the internet and GPS might have come about even sooner.
James did you forget the sarc/ after higher quality at lower prices from WMT AND MCD? Crap and crapier. You couldn't pay me to eat that shit at MCD's. Have you seen the infographic of the happy meal which didn't change in over 6 months? (google it) You think thats food?
James did you forget the sarc/ after higher quality at lower prices from WMT AND MCD? Crap and crapier.
Beam Me Up Scotty said better what I was trying to say.
"Dammit Jim, I'm an establishment troll, NOT an engineer!"
Isn't that the truth. Many +1's to you Akak.
What people don't understand about Walmart, discount retailing, etc. is that it is, generally, a SYMPTOM, of the FedRes and their criminal theft (printing). Discount retailing is a form of leverage that thrives in an inflationary environment and can only operate if cheap (printed) capital is exported overseas to provide cheaper and cheaper (low quality) merch.
I am not saying that there would be no discount retailing, just that it would not be so pervasive.
"All failings of the US and the American people begin and end with the FedRes and their pol and crat puppets."
I genuinely laughed. Thanks for the chuckle DaddyO
It looks as if Capt. Yellen didn't like my analogy.
DaddyO
His name is Ron Paul
His name is name is Edward Joseph Snowden and he supported Ron Paul (R) for President
His name is Barrack Hussein Obama or Barry Soetoro or Barry Obama or Barack Hussein Obama II Soebarkah but to us non-libtard non-Dems he is just known as ***king liar.
Fucking brilliant.
Its developed nations against the poor 3 billion living in absolute poverty. Developed nations engage in competitive currency devaluation which allow for the entitlement state. Because automation will continue to make most labor worthless, entitlements are the only way to buy social peace. So the big rich countries will arm the poor w small guns so they kill themselves while the developed countries keep the nukes and chemicals as a means of protection. The strategy will make the .01% very very rich but allow most in the developed nations to live well compared to the poor 3 billion elsewhere. Thank God you live in America.
So, you're saying that we can't all just work harder and all be rich? </sarc>
I've been to places where the daily income is in the $2/day range and I can tell you that the majority of those folks work FAR harder than most here likely do. I never forget this reality.
750 MILLION people in India, over 2 1/2 times the entire population of the US, live on $0.50/day! As corrupt as India's power might be I very much doubt that they can even begin to rival the $85 billion/mo level that is occuring in the US (which is really only possible because it controls the world's reserve currency).
I've always thought the same thing...don't the elitists have a way with words? lol
Well, us mere peasants have a way with words also...such as:
FUCK YOU, BERNANKE!!!
FUCK YOU, OBAMA!!! (YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT...I SAID IT)
FUCK YOU, ALL YOU MARXIST SCUM (they all know who they are, may they rot in hell one day soon).
Fight The
M.arxist
U.topian
T.yrannical
A.uthoritarian
N.efarious
T.reasonous
S.ocialists
These are the Chains we Hoped for.
Chains We Can Bereave In!
I know they also do things like.. "The price of a car may have gone from $30,000 to $40,000 but with all the new features, technology, and other efficiencies in the newer $40,000 model, the inflation is minimal to none"
Even though it's very much more likely that the new features actually cost less than the previous ones.
$10,000 worth of electronic B.S. and screens that you'll be paying attention to when you run over a kid walking to school.
yeah but, yeah but, yeah but ... for 11,000 you get a kid avoidance system, too.
We will even throw in the complimentary GPS/Speed tracking Black Box.
Since GM announced back in 2004 that every car (all models, all makes) within their company would come with OnStar factory-installed (hard-wired into the harness), I vowed I'd never get a GM car again in my entire life. Even now, I'm eyeing a nice 1960s vehicle I can buy and put perhaps $10K into to completely restore it and drive it another 20+ years. No smog check, no black box, no GPS, no OnStar, no Big Brother watching me from inside my car. My rules.
Worried about those new LPN scanners mounted on cop cars? There are ways around that, too.
Nah, the new ones hit the brakes for you! Betcha they are easy to work on.
pods
Jesus $40-$50K for a fucking car! My father bought a nice custom Parkwood Tipout Mobile home back in 1986 for $42K. Good luck with all that. Yeah, I'm making dick just like he did back then too.
In 1957, my father bought a light blue 1957 Ford Mainliner 2 door sedan, with a V-8 engine, stick shift, and an AM radio, brand new off the lot at Fuller Ford in Cincinnati Ohio for $1,500.00 cash! He drove it for 100,000 miles and traded it in 2 years later for a brand new white 1959 Ford Fairlane 500 4 door hardtop convertible with a V-8 engine, automatic transmission, and an AM radio for $1,000 cash. Those were definitely the "good old days"!
In 2013, my friend bought a brand new Tesla S for $85,000 and a few weeks later he was horribly burned to death at a McDonalds drive thru. Elon Musk said in must have been a radio signal reaction with the milk shake machine.
...or a cup of coffee.
I remember being flabbergasted back in the mid-90s when a friend of mine paid $18K for a new Honda Accord. Then a few years later I bought my own new car for $20K+, but with the expectation of driving it 250K miles and getting my full money out of it (still driving it!). Nowadays I see comparable-class cars going for $40K+ and dealerships offering 8-yr loans. Can you say "financial bondage", class? Kray kray.
around year 2000 I spent over $30k on somewhat of a lower end used luxury car. I'm still driving it and love it more than most vehicles I see that sell for that price range now.
So, if you convert those 1953 dollars into ounces of silver what do you get? What does that equate to today?
Here's a hing, the car @ $1500 was approximately 1500 oz silver. Value of that 1500 oz of silver today?
Move along, the problem is with our money....and the .fed/.gov siphoning off its value, that's all. Fix the money.
I wonder how many accidents are caused by the need to go faster between jobs so that you can afford that vehicle in the first place? And go even faster when you need to make more money to pay for the most costly replacement parts...
CPI has been a joke for decades.
Now cue the USD bulls to spew their bullshit on the strong doelarr.
See what is kept out of sight:
http://patrick.net/forum/?p=1230886
The 'establishment' are conpersons FIRST!
15 tons and nothing to take home; simple, zero inflation, move along fella! Your salary stays flat chained on 1970 CPI.
The REALITY is that we could NEVER continue to increase our population AND maintain a high "standard of living," let alone improve it.
We're based on the need to increase our consumption of natural capital, capital that comes from a finite source.
I have no disagreement with the FACT that there are lots of folks scamming what's available, but, this hides from the FACT that we're basing things on an improbability (perpetual growth).
I junked you because I do not agree with the assessment that humans live in a finite universe. The issue is how to get past the sociopaths and thieves long enough to be able ot get into space and away from statist assholes.
I suggest you take off from that island in the Philippines; it'll convince you that your reasoning is spot on. When a typhoon comes to aid the statists we know God is saying the same thing as you : let those who believe in me join me fast on Virgin Airlines. (No naked stowaways allowed). Good luck and good bye.
No, you junked me because you're ignorant and can't READ.
I said PLANET, not "UNIVERSE."
Feel free to calculate what it takes to actualy go out into the universe and obtain things from there. Oh, and don't do it on MY dime.
"The issue is how to get past the sociopaths and thieves long enough to be able ot get into space and away from statist assholes."
Feel free to leave NOW. The meek shall inherit the earth. I KNOW that all the shit will pass; and when it does, and when folks like you who FAIL physics and logic are gone then perhaps a more sustainable place humans will find themselves in.
LOL, the Fed is boxed in a corner. It can do only one thing, print more until there is a currency crisis.
Full throttle Captain.
We've been at full throttle for long enough that when El Capitan asks for full reverse to avoid the iceberg "no one saw coming", it will rip her screws right out of the engine room.
Her sinking will be swift and sure, almost as if she were scuttled...
DaddyO
I'm sure the 1% will be the ones left in the life boats.
You should read; Fortunes of Change: The Rise of the Liberal Rich and the Remaking of America. by David Callahan
The System boxed itself in from the beginning. The pace is increasing owing to the nature of the exponential function. The obvious was always going to become apparent: I suspect that the notion of an "apocolypse" is correct (from Wikipedia):
We'll find out we're NOT in Kansas anymore, that behind the curtain is no more than deceipt and old impotent men/power.
Debt jubilee my friend will set US free.
Real inflation is far above the FED 2% the fake inflation is so you don't ask for a wage increase. The FED could claim inflation victory any time they wanted...they don't want to
Seek no evil, speak no evil...
Yeah, it's not a default if you don't call it that.
We won't be able to keep up this cognitive dissonance much longer (despite any attempts by TPTB to keep it going).
The Blonde lady gave Dr. Paul a deer in the headlights look that was priceless;1:05-1:57.
The government is always going to change in ways that limit their responsibility while increasing their power. This is just another scam to do that.
It limits their payout due to COLA raises of SS (limits their responsibility), which gives them more to dole out in a way that they see fit (increases their power).
They have to make it sound fancy because they know deep inside that there are enough lamp posts for the lot of them in the DC area.
pods
"The government is always going to change in ways that limit their responsibility while increasing their power. This is just another scam to do that."
And this is different than how most individuals act? </sarc>
Their power is derived by their ability to make people think that they are getting something from nothing. When only nothing is able to be delivered is when it all collapses.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_DV54ddNHE
NOTE: after the lamp posts have been used for other than lighting purposes we'll still find that we don't have the ability to use them for their intended purposes.
Plenty of spare limbs on those Cherry trees though.
Sigh, I'm afraid, given the high levels of BTUs contained in cherry wood, that those trees will get whacked down (killing off future harvests of cherries). For me right now I have to worry about the deer getting them! (which is why I've got them protected via electric fencing!)
Electric fence is the cat's ass. My garden kept feeding the local deer population. I tried everything, hair, hot sauce, stink spray, soap. Seems they grew to like the different spices I put on my plants.
Electric fence comes and now they wont come near it.
For shits and giggles one time I was checking it. It gives you that little zap when touching it. Not bad. Being smart like I am, I knew that my tennis shoes blocked most of the conduction and if I was really going to assess the shock I needed to do it barefoot.
All I can say is wow. Grabbed it (with right hand) and every muscle in my arm and down my leg clenched for the 20 ms or so that it was on.
Like Ghostbusters, a successful test.
pods
By this theory, increasing prices signal an increase in our standard of living!
And more GDP production supposedly also signals being better off ... no matter if the added 'production' wrecks the environment, and is consumer junk, drone missiles, NSA spying services, and more prisons.
By such deceptions is our well-being measured.
And the GDP clearly doesn't include a bunch of "profits" from uncollectable loans... </sarc>
Anyway, how about those Mets?
Before Elizabeth Warren became a politician, she did some incredible work in predicting the collapse of the middle class and showing in detail how exactly that was occurring. Highly recommended viewing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akVL7QY0S8A
You mean the admitted Socialist Elizabeth Warren? She predicted something in 2008 that had been said 20 years before hand already? You don't say.....
Quit stealing credit for her stealing another persons work.
The same Elizabeth Warren who wrote of "you didn't build that" and gave Obummer a foundation to spew from?
DaddyO
"you didn't build that"
Yeah. Sounds great... when taken out of context.
This is getting old.
So, the message isn't valid?
I could fucking go back to the start of fake "interest" (post Phonecian times) as being responsible for all the ills. Does That then mean that all others predicting this eventual failure are wrong or are "socialists?"
I'm wondering whether you'd even be able to spot the forest through the trees... BTW- how's that rocket ship thing coming?
You look far less stupid when you actually review the evidence before forming an opinion on it.
Just wait til chained CPI starts showing decreases and SS checks start contracting. Can't vote your Fed Chair out!
It's an addiction. Politicians are addicted to spending.
And addicts do ANYTHING to keep their fix coming.
"Politicians are addicted to spending."
Well, it's their job after all. I mean, as long as money is flowing in their direction and all. And I doubt that we'd accept just giving them money as though they were poor street people: but then again we might be better off doing so (with the provision that they not do anything).
Just toss them all out and close shop. Time that the racket be dissolved. (next up, the corporate tyrants)
way too much common sense and logic for anyone in the msm to comprehend...
ron, thanks, but even you must come to terms that it is hopeless. i feel sorry for someone that doesn't just carry on and accept that these fuckers are in charge. go find happiness off the grid and ignore this charade call fed reserve and politics. after 30 years one would think he would get a clue...
luv ya ron, really do!
What if you already started at cat food ?
You still can move to dirt cookies.
ever eat a pine tree? many parts are edible ...
Biflationary theory counterpoint:
Inflation figures look tame because wages are held down.
In reality living standards drop more because of this double whammy.
Rampant deflation has been offset by monetary tsunamis
blonde lady is a moron. go back to code pink.
Only her personal physician knows that for certtain!
I think his son is going to be in the fight of his life to get that Presidential nomination...never hurts to have a good dad in your corner. The media "fresh off their victory over America" is going to be a tough sell. They only want war in the Middle East so they can loot the Treasury. That's a lot of private interest to go up against.
He could do it, if he avoids his Dad's biggest mistake. A dozen trips to the Wailing Wall just might put Rand over the top.