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Greed Is Good? Where Will America's Sick Obsession With Wealth And Money End?

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Michael Snyder of The Economic Collapse blog,

Everywhere you look, Americans appear to be extremely obsessed with wealth and money.  These days, networks such as CNN endlessly run "news stories" with titles such as "Best cars for the super rich".  We have television shows where people proudly show off how wealthy they are, and it seems like Hollywood is putting out an endless parade of movies that glorify the lifestyles of the elite.  We have hordes of motivational speakers and "life coaches" that will teach you how to be "more successful" in life, and every small movement in the stock market is carefully monitored by the mainstream news media.  Even in the world of faith, we have an entire class of ministers known as "prosperity preachers", and many of those ministers wear that label quite proudly.  Yes, those that grew up in the 1980s may have been the "greed is good" generation, but the truth is that they didn't have anything on us.  As a society we love money, and we are not ashamed to admit it.  In fact, there are times we absolutely revel in it.  For example, Time Magazine published an article this year entitled "Science Proves It: Greed Is Good" and hardly anyone even raised an eyebrow.  But where will America's sick obsession with wealth and money end?  Could it end up destroying us?

I got the idea for this article when I was browsing through CNN's website.  The following are eight "news stories" about wealth that were featured on CNN just on Thursday alone...

#1 "The richest Americans in history"

#2 "How much do you need to be happy?"

#3 "Where are the super rich?"

#4 "From broke to billionaire"

#5 "Homes: What $25 million buys around the world"

#6 "Best cars for the super rich"

#7 "America's homes are bigger than ever"

#8 "Mega yacht with a movie theater"

This is what passes for news these days?

It has been said that we tend to talk about the things that we are obsessed with.

And CNN is clearly obsessed with wealth.

Not that there is anything wrong with having money.

If none of us had any money, we would all be homeless and starving.  So the truth is that money can be very useful.  But when it becomes an idol, that is when it becomes a problem.

And because we have taught entire generations of Americans that becoming wealthy is one of the primary goals in life, it is creating a tremendous amount of envy, jealousy, frustration and anger among those that have not been able to become wealthy.

In recent years, the level of bitterness and resentment that the rest of the nation has toward the very wealthy has risen to an unprecedented level.  It has become exceedingly apparent that the system is designed to funnel wealth to the very top of the food chain, and many of those at the bottom of the food chain are starting to become extremely upset about this.

Since the last financial crisis, almost all of the income gains have gone to the top one percent of all income earners.  The following comes from a recent Huffington Post article...

Economic statistics show that incomes for the top 1 percent of U.S. households soared 31 percent from 2009 through 2012, after adjusting for inflation, yet inched up an average of 0.4 percent for those making less. Many economists are sounding alarms that the income gap, greater now than at any time since the Depression, is hurting the economy by limiting growth in consumer spending.

And income inequality has become such a hot topic that it has even produced a New York Times bestseller by a French economist named Thomas Piketty.  This is what CBS News recently had to say about his book...

His book has landed on that debate like a bomb. Piketty's thesis: that the rate of return on capital, such as real estate, dividends and other financial assets, is racing away from the rate of growth required to maintain a healthy economy. If that trend continues for an extended period of time -- if wealth becomes ever more concentrated in the hands of a few -- then inequality is likely to get worse, says Piketty, 43, who started his academic career as an assistant professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and who now teaches at the Paris School of Economics.

 

Another reason "Capital" has caught the public's attention is that inequality is evident in what are by now a host of familiar symptoms. Stagnant pay, except among the super-rich. Soaring health care and education costs. The diminished expectations commonly found in young, especially those lacking college degrees, and old alike, as retirement becomes something to endure rather than to enjoy.

It would be foolish to deny that the gap between the rich and the poor is growing.  Even as the stock market reaches unprecedented heights, the middle class is dying and one out of every five children in America is living in poverty.

On a global scale, the wealthiest one percent now have 65 times more wealth than the entire poorest half of the global population does.

That is an astounding figure.

Most people don't realize this, but the ultra-wealthy have approximately 32 trillion dollars (that we know about) stashed in offshore banks around the planet.  That amount of money would almost be about enough to pay off the entire U.S. national debt and buy every good and service produced in the United States for an entire year.

Meanwhile, the poorest half of the world's population only owns about 1 percent of all global wealth, and about a billion people throughout the world go to bed hungry every night.

If greed was going to save the world, it would have done it by now.  At this point, the wealthy have accumulated more wealth than they ever have before.  For example, according to Zero Hedge the total amount of wealth in the U.S. has just hit a brand new record high...

Earlier today the Fed released its latest Flow of Funds report, which showed that in the first quarter household net worth rose from last quarter's $80.3 trillion to a new record high of $81.8 trillion, driven by a $1.5 trillion increase in total assets while household liabilities were virtually unchanged in the quarter. And since the Fed is onboarding all the liabilities why should households bother with debt: that's what the central bank balance sheet is for.

 

As for the proceeds, they go to the mega rich: of the $81.8 trillion in net worth, 70.4% of the total amount or $67.2 trillion, was in financial assets: the higest it has ever been courtesy of just one person: Ben Bernanke, and to a far lesser extent Janet Yellen who however is tasked with picking up Bernanke's pieces.

But of course most people who are rich are only rich on paper.

As noted above, 67.2 trillion dollars of the total of 81.8 trillion dollars of wealth in this nation is made up of financial assets.

So what happens if there is a major financial crisis (such as the derivatives bubble bursting) which causes the total amount of financial wealth in the United States to drop by 50% or more?

What would such an event do to our country?

We are so obsessed with wealth and money that it is truly frightening to think about how we would react as a society if it was taken away.

But this current financial bubble will not last forever.

At some point it will come to an end.

When it does, will our society throw a massive temper tantrum?

 

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Fri, 06/06/2014 - 23:45 | 4831934 americanreality
americanreality's picture

Classic.  Texas economist, hmm...   Anyone know if W is down clearing brush this weekend? 

Fri, 06/06/2014 - 23:46 | 4831935 nmewn
nmewn's picture

Maybe if it was framed as a question...

"Anytime someone wants to speak ill of capitalism, greed is mentioned as one of its characteristics as if greed disappears under socialism.

Does it?"

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 00:29 | 4831989 LetThemEatRand
LetThemEatRand's picture

Of course it does not.  Greed is a human condition as our resident Texas economist mentioned.  That is why pure free markets are a solution only in the mind of Texas economists, not in the real world.   Keep looking for simple answers, and you will find a simple problem.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 01:43 | 4832047 NidStyles
NidStyles's picture

It's amazing how much of an enabler you are towards aggression on the large scale while trying to pretend to be for liberating people. 

That cognitive dissonance you live with must be stressful. It's at least amusing to me. 

Anyone that says the Free-Markets are a simple solution must be out of his mind. There is nothing simple about living in a Free-Market system, but there is this thing called upward mobility that it allows in a far greater likelihood than living in a command economy that you seem to keep pushing here. That is unless you ignore how the world got to the point that it is today thanks to listening to the same message you are pushing here now. 

There is something simple about this conversation, and it certainly is not the Free-Market solution, because if it were we would already have all of the answers to your questions. ;-)

 

You make this too easy BTW.

 

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 07:47 | 4832183 Jstanley011
Jstanley011's picture

Human nature is a constant, and greed is a part of human nature. Which means that any "system" which depends upon the elimination of greed to work is going to end up with small caliber pistol shots being applied to the backs of heads on a mass scale. Simple as that.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 00:35 | 4831996 BeetleBailey
BeetleBailey's picture
Where Will America's Sick Obsession With Wealth And Money End?

Until each person dies...and finds out in the after life that it all didn't matter....

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 00:50 | 4832011 PT
PT's picture

So the sooner we give up on money, the sooner we meet our maker and the sooner we receive the confirmation that it all didn't matter after all!

Funnily enough, the banksters are trying their best to help us on our way!

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 01:44 | 4832048 NidStyles
NidStyles's picture

I'll feel better dying knowing I gave my kids a better chance at surviving than yours then. 

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 06:20 | 4832138 Adahy
Adahy's picture

My kids will survive just fine without being dependent on fiat thanks.  I'll leave them knowledge and family land.

Maybe I'll pick up that "My kid can hunt, skin, tan, and make your honor student into a nice pair of moccasins" bumper sticker.

Fri, 06/06/2014 - 22:59 | 4831860 Frilton Miedman
Frilton Miedman's picture

 

 

 

"A thief is greedy. An honest salesman trying to make as much money as possible is doing a good job. "

("Honest" salesman??...ok, I knew one, once, long ago, he changed careers)

They're both greedy, but one refines his to the rule of law.

To add, I'm also greedy, and I refrain from excess within the rule of law.

As a business owner (I am), I'll get the best price possible while shopping for the lowest material costs I can.

My competitors do too, ultimately it comes down to cost, we competitively push eachother to the lowest input costs possible, that's the benefit of a free market, it forces better price through effeciency.

However,

If I sell, say, bread to restaurants, and my competitor starts using cheaper but unsanitary ingredients, I either cut my income to match him, giving him a revenue advantage, or I resort to doing what he's doing.

So, what stops this competitive race to the bottom?

Regulations, transparency and Regulators to enforce them.

I mention this for the fact that regulation has become so frequently associated with "communism" or anti-capitalist.

My "bread" scenario mirrors what happened when we allowed the banking sector to self regulate without transparency, the competetive race to the bottom resulted in massive theft via ratings fraud.

Any publicly traded bank that missed the boat in pushing Sub-prime liar loans to package into CDO's and selling them as "AAA" assets fell behind their competitors earlier this decade.

The counter-argument being the regulators (government) are easily corrupted, that's true without transparency.

One of the BEST programs EVER to counter that is the Whistleblower program, availing a small % of the value of ill gotten gains was a brilliant free market way to stop corruption while mitigating the size of government (regulators).

 

 

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 00:04 | 4831956 Anusocracy
Anusocracy's picture

"So, what stops this competitive race to the bottom?"

Feedback from customers and private testing organizations. Especially the feedback, which now can be far more rapid than anything government rules and regulations can ever do.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 00:38 | 4831960 Frilton Miedman
Frilton Miedman's picture

 

 

Ok.

How well have banks responded to "feedback" in my above mentioned 2008 aftermath of their self regulated competition to the bottom?

Did it come to a "no harm, no foul" free market end?

You can argue they manipulated the rule of law, I won't debate, the same rule of law that once curbed the issue of non-transparency or self regulation.

There's absolutely no debate that the TBTF's are immune from consumer recourse - "feedback".

From there, there's no avoiding the reality their self regulation fails.

The CFMA & Gramm-Leach-Bliley, by definiition is absolute anti-transparency, anti-regulation.

I assume you're aware the CFMA allows non-disclosed & limitless futures/derivatives trading, availing control over material input costs for any sector.

As the recent JPM / BCS energy scandal proves in California, losses in distorting those futures is more than regained in positioning ong or short in advance in regular equities.

 

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 00:43 | 4832006 Oldwood
Oldwood's picture

The problem is that banks are isolated from market feedback because they isolate the market from the direct feedback of its actions. Bad debt is buried in securities taking years to blow back. The feedback cycle is too long to be effective, like lung cancer. Laws are designed to provide protection but are instead used as a tool to perpetrate fraud. Nothing short of personal vigilance can combat fraud and corruption.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 06:24 | 4832142 Adahy
Adahy's picture

My "feedback" to the banks was to stop using them alltogether.  I'll bet that, if many, many more people did the same, then something would change.  There is no immunity from that.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 15:43 | 4832954 Frilton Miedman
Frilton Miedman's picture

 

 

I applaud you, you're right.

I took my business to a non-TBTF, even C.U.'s and local banks have the same conveniences.

 

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 00:17 | 4831972 texas economist
texas economist's picture

Actually, government is the most important ingredient n a free market system. Only a governmnet can insure that free market principles stay in place. Without government performing this function, government becomes a tool for rigging markets, goosing stocks and capturing customers. We do not have a free market system. The uneven wealth distribution we have comes from the elite using government to cause it to turn out that way.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 00:36 | 4831994 Frilton Miedman
Frilton Miedman's picture

 

 

I agree with every word.

To simply stop short and blame government alone is a disaster in the works if you fail to acknowledge the puppet masters.

It's the undue influence of bribery that has failed us, the SCOTUS's failure to recognize the Constitution's prohibition of bribery and then define bribery as "free speech".

The government of my government is my enemy.

 

 

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 00:56 | 4832014 UselessEater
UselessEater's picture

Is goverment is so great? The rule of law, an unadulterated constitution and an independant judicial system that upholds the constitution seems more important given today's sad state of affairs where governments and mega corporations are revolving doors that subvert all national constitutions through legislation, regulation, treaties, etc.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 01:41 | 4832043 Frilton Miedman
Frilton Miedman's picture

 

 

The solution to a corrupt cop taking kickbacks from criminals isn't to shut down the police department.

Though it would be more cost effective for the criminals.

Take a look on opensecrets.org sometime, political bribery is getting very expensive.

 

 

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 01:54 | 4832053 UselessEater
UselessEater's picture

OK I've spent time on that site awhile back so will refresh, but bribery is kinda cheap when you are given tax breaks, uncontested bids for contracts that are not hard dollar but cost plus, and protective regulations that eliminate competition and bail outs etc etc... I must be missing your drift because I would shut down the police department (but actually THEY are shutting them down - even in regional Australia its a farce one cop for a zillion km's and in a few USA bad spots with a police response thats pointedly useless).

Plus my tiny piss ant local council spends more time reporting to the UN than dealing with roads, rubbish and its residents.... not sure it would be so bad to shut them down, perhaps we're reaching a tipping point??

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 02:38 | 4832068 Frilton Miedman
Frilton Miedman's picture

 

 

Cheap relative to the ROI of bribers, sure, if $1 million gets you a $5 million tax break or allows you to avoid $10 million costs in "pesky" health regulations, not bad.

For you and I, to pay for justice or Constitutionally "guaranteed" liberty, not so much.

 

 

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 05:34 | 4832124 UselessEater
UselessEater's picture

Perhaps, but my rural local area should be prosperous. Dump the new regulations designed to protect what we have already protected for decades and 200 farms killed recently would be thriving again in a couple of years. Sack the tossers installing smart meters which we don't want, get rid of our council using fancy computer shit that reports to the UN and increases our planning department documents & personnel by 1000% & cuts commission and license trails to ICLEI associates etc, we'll save more dosh and focus on what the community wants and knows they can pay for.

i.e. we had a semblance of justice and constitutional law much has changed in less than 7 yrs and that's possible to turn back but I already feel the bar code on my wrist, regional economics is about re-positioning at tax payer expense for the corp takeover in "our best interests" eg Agriculture Schools once numerous are virtually extinct in Aust. but the money 'saved' evaporated :(

 

Fri, 06/06/2014 - 22:31 | 4831837 MedicalQuack
MedicalQuack's picture

If you have never seen the documentary, the Tax Free Tour they spell it out how the US big 4 accounting companies set them up and how they work to seperate the public's perception of the CEO from this side of the business.

http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-tax-free-tour-documentary-on-...

Fri, 06/06/2014 - 22:44 | 4831851 JR
JR's picture

The advancement of western civilization came with man’s desire to make more of himself, to learn more about the world, to study, to achieve knowledge, share this with other men and work with others to build a better world. Greed was the emotion that periodically set the progress back -- through war, through tyrannical slavery, through political intrigue.

Greed is the emotion of socialism -  to have what others have produced using a minimum of effort. Honest ambition tied with the principles of honesty, respect for others and a realization that man is a creation of God is what produced the American idea. It wrote the Declaration of Independence, formed the Constitution and set a people on a path of progress unparalleled in the history of the world.

America was on a trajectory to continue when greed swept in to seize this initiative in 1913 by the money trust that formed the Federal Reserve System and set America on a new path.

Do not assign the characteristic of greed practiced by the bankers and peddled by their media to the people. The “invisible hand” does not mean stealing, cheating, going to war or murdering to gain material superiority.

The noble character of man that built America includes the courage to identify a true enemy, to confront it and to seek ways to return the nation on its path to progress. This today from Jesse’s Café:

O6 June 2014 Jesse's Café Américain 

“WE ARE NOT TO SIMPLY BANDAGE THE WOUNDS OF VICTIMS BENEATH THE WHEELS OF INJUSTICE, WE ARE TO DRIVE A SPOKE INTO THE WHEEL ITSELF...SILENCE IN THE FACE OF EVIL IS ITSELF EVIL: GOD WILL NOT HOLD US GUILTLESS. NOT TO SPEAK IS TO SPEAK. NOT TO ACT IS TO ACT.” DIETRICH BONHOEF

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Negative Interest Rates Have Arrived

"We have been silent witnesses of evil deeds; we have been drenched by many storms; we have learnt the arts of equivocation and pretence; experience has made us suspicious of others and kept us from being truthful and open; intolerable conflicts have worn us down and even made us cynical.

 
Are we still of any use? What we shall need is not geniuses, or cynics, or misanthropes, or clever tacticians, but plain, honest, and straightforward men. Will our inward power of resistance be strong enough, and our honesty with ourselves remorseless enough, for us to find our way back to simplicity and straightforwardness?”
? Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison

 
Negative interest rates are a stealthy confiscation of wealth and of savings from those who are less equipped to protect themselves against it.

The policy makers seek to compel people out of their savings and any safe havens, and into the unreformed paper asset markets of Wall Street, so they can be sheared and then slaughtered. 

Have a pleasant weekend.

http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2014/06/gold-daily-and-silver-weekly-charts_6.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JessesCafeAmericain+%28Jesse%27s+Caf%C3%A9+Am%C3%A9ricain%29

Fri, 06/06/2014 - 23:49 | 4831937 americanreality
americanreality's picture

Creation of god, right.   

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 01:10 | 4832028 UselessEater
UselessEater's picture

Greed is the emotion of socialism

IMO its jealousy & a touch of laziness that is the emotion of socialism.

In my younger years I worked huge hours and made small career advances, other women were more inclined to comment I had performed services for favours. Friends defended me but it was a lessen and insight into the power of socialism by (female) envy with scant regard to personal effort and risk. Then again I'm Australian and here we can't recognise we're tall-poppy socialists for the mega-corporate interests.

True greed would have had those women out making their own money at any cost (so-to-speak as thats implied by greed), instead they wanted their family benefits that I paid for in tax, and to imply something as simple as a company car to do company work was an unfair perk of my "services".

 

 

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 03:04 | 4832077 August
August's picture

Up-vote for the Bonhoeffer quotes.  Another pertinent one, unless you are of the Doug Casey persuasion:

"the ultimate question for a responsible man to ask is not how he is to extricate himself heroically from the affair, but how the coming generation shall continue to live."

Fri, 06/06/2014 - 22:49 | 4831859 texas economist
texas economist's picture

Read this article carefully. What is described are opinion and behavior management initiatives by CNBC and others. There actually is no case made that rank and file Americans are obsessed with money. There is a difference between where one’s mind is and where CNBC prefers minds to be focused.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 00:08 | 4831958 Otrader
Otrader's picture

I kinda picked up on that, too.  We are controlled by media (what we hear and see).  Every 8 minutes, we are told happiness is right around the corner, IF we purchase the new this or that.  And, when that message is repeated over and over, we become fully programmed.

"The few who understand the system, will either be so interested from it's profits or so dependant on it's favors, that there will be no opposition from that class." — Rothschild Brothers of London, 1863

 

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 02:30 | 4832066 UselessEater
UselessEater's picture

Good quote; it fitts with the Tall Poppy Syndrome that snarky welfare hungry neighbours apply to eachother while gushing over the "self made success" of the likes of Gates, Gina Rhinehart and ex-banker Politicians who cry 'I am a simple man' with croc tears only to then further feather the nests of the socio-cronies apparently in our best interests.

Hence limp and limited opposition based purely on indulgent self-interest vs productive self-interest that could uplift prosperity in a local healthy way with little debt and little gouging of local resources for pennies in the dollar. A soft middle class seems to be its own worst enemy - how odd to work hard to get to such a level and then let it slip?

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 07:52 | 4832186 spacecadet
spacecadet's picture

"There actually is no case made that rank and file Americans are obsessed with money"
Maybe if they were, there situation would improve.
Imagine a country where everyone was satisfied. We would still be riding horses and getting up to switch the channel on our tv. 
Not to mention the fact that some other superior nation would be launching drone strikes and plundering our natural resources.

Fri, 06/06/2014 - 22:54 | 4831865 Cabreado
Cabreado's picture

If you'd prefer to save the host...

the obsession should be with Control...

how it works, where it comes from, and how ignorance enables it.

Fri, 06/06/2014 - 23:00 | 4831871 disabledvet
disabledvet's picture

"Taxes are for poor people." Leona Helmsley.

Fri, 06/06/2014 - 23:03 | 4831874 spacecadet
spacecadet's picture

To be honest, I just browsed through this article, but I'm certain that one thing that made America great is it's citizens obsession with money. 
The yearn for money drives innovation, creativity, creates business, jobs, keeps people from being lazy etc.
As for income inequality, yeah, if you keep letting millions of poor people in, the statistics will surely reflect that.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 01:12 | 4832026 Frilton Miedman
Frilton Miedman's picture

 

 

"... I'm certain that one thing that made America great is it's citizens obsession with money. "

I completely agree, greed is what gets me out of bed, a phenominal motivator, but the second half of that formula is the opportunity Democracy has availed us by preventing greed from growing into Monarchy or Plutocracy.

If we allow the concentration of wealth and power to suppress new competitors or more efficient models, the same greed is repressive to freedom, free markets.

 

As Milton Friedman put it - 

" We have been forgetting the basic truth that the greatest threat to human freedom is the concentration of power, whether in the hands of government or anyone else. "

 

 

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 07:46 | 4832181 spacecadet
spacecadet's picture

My favorite quote of the week.
The rich might have climbed the ladder because they earned it, but they have then purchased government to pull up the ladder behind them.
Y. Falkson.

Fri, 06/06/2014 - 23:15 | 4831877 Pie rre
Pie rre's picture

My property taxes are more than what I need to exhist on.  Cigarettes are ten dollars a pack which includes 56% taxes for the gov and 4 dollars a pack for the state.  A one pack a day habit runs 3600.00 per year. I should quit if only for the taxes. I remember when they were fifty cents a pack. President no new taxes added one dollar when he took office and our governor added another when her mother died from lung cancer. Fkrs

Old buzzard

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 01:00 | 4832016 PT
PT's picture

Pot heads grow pot in their back yards.  Why don't you grow tobacco in your back yard?

Actually, your problem is also a direct demonstration of the lack of power of the so-called "Free Shit Army".  If the FSA has voting power, then with so many smokers who vote, couldn't yous all lobby for the right to grow tobacco in your back yards?

I do understand that pot is a weed.  Is tobacco hard to grow?

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 01:09 | 4832024 kareninca
kareninca's picture

Yes, that's what I was thinking.  Why not grow it yourself?  Here's a growing map (of where particular types are presently produced); it looks like you can grow it in all sorts of climates: http://www.tobaccoequipment.com/Misc/Carolina_Tobacco,_inc._Tobacco_Grow....  It is grown in the South, but at the same time Connecticut used to be a big tobacco growing state.  And if you go to howtogrowtobacco.com you will find threads on how to grow it in containers:  http://www.howtogrowtobacco.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1492.  So you don't even need a yard, just a patio.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 10:50 | 4832324 Zeta Reticuli
Zeta Reticuli's picture

I grew up on a tobacco farm in CT. Tobacco and tomatoes are in the same family. If you can grow one, you can grow the other. Go online and learn how to sucker and top the plants. When they are mature you dry (cure) the plants and strip the leaves. Chop it up and roll your own organic smokes. I live in China now, but I see all the peasant people in the villages grow and roll their own.

Back in the Seventies we grew and rolled our own, but that was a different plant. :)

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 05:06 | 4832116 basho
basho's picture

"I do understand that pot is a weed."

you don't seem to understand much about either LOL

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 07:23 | 4832169 Platinum
Platinum's picture

Look into e-cigs. I have a Pro Vari and use organic cotton wicks with it. $15 bought me enough kanthal wire and organic cotton to make wicks for at least a year. E-Juice is all I buy now.

Fri, 06/06/2014 - 23:25 | 4831903 Walt D.
Walt D.'s picture

More class warfare drivel.

Probably not true either. Compare the wealth of Carnegie, Vanderbildt and Rockerfeller to the average hourly wage at the time.

Hilliary Clinton is probably still the epitome of greed, but this will not stop people voting for her. Michelle Obama - you don't need to be greedy as long as you can spend an unlimited amoumt of other people'e money

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 00:08 | 4831959 monad
monad's picture

Yup. Nobody has a fit over Time urinalism because nobody reads Time.

Fri, 06/06/2014 - 23:40 | 4831922 Karaio
Karaio's picture

No problem!

México e Canadá são burros o suficiente para aguentar nossos gastos Kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk.

hehe.

Fri, 06/06/2014 - 23:52 | 4831942 enloe creek
enloe creek's picture

who is this us he is speaking of 90% of the people reading this have no idea what 90% of the country is all about. we are divided and blinded by media and money. I work in a factory so I see a cross section of people and the few who act like they are somebody important are generally clueless. that goes for society in general. if you have a good career you stay away from working class people like they were lepers until you need someone to fix something or provide a service then you want respect and couteous behaviour but in your mind you don't care . the way it is going sometime in the near future the american working class is going to wake up and really go for a sociallist then it will be all about getting something back for the crap this country has allowed to happen.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 00:03 | 4831952 telefunken
telefunken's picture

I's not the money stuff so much as this worship of "insiders"

we are ruled and propagandized by people much dumber than us that are "very well connected" 

 Even those old wasps built things-the tech people spend their money on 3rd world vaccines that will "reduce population"?!? 

  These "rich" are crazy if they think they will be left alone-If you are not a billionaire ("well connected" as well) your account will be "bailed in" anywhere from 30 to 90%.

  

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 00:18 | 4831975 Joebloinvestor
Joebloinvestor's picture

If you are forming your take on the world from what you get from CNN and feeding it with envy of riches you will never posess, then yeah, you should be bitter.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 01:26 | 4832037 Frilton Miedman
Frilton Miedman's picture

 

 

Inversely, if you had to feed your child Ramen noodles for dinner since settling for a WMT position after losing your IT job to an Indian programmer at a fraction your wages, while listening to Larry Kudlow carry on about "class envy", you should also be bitter.

 

 

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 00:30 | 4831990 DOGGONE
DOGGONE's picture

Look at what the SOBs hide:
http://www.showrealhist.com/yTRIAL.html
and show it!

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 01:19 | 4832033 kareninca
kareninca's picture

Be careful what you wish for.  I think I'd rather my neighbors were obsessed with material junk, than with religion or honor (the traditional obessions of humans).  This way I can pick up great stuff on large item discard night, and they won't kill me for not going to their place of worship or for an unintended slight.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 11:40 | 4832394 JR
JR's picture

I am incredibly thankful that the founders of this country recognized God and were in reverence to higher principles than materialism in order to protect your freedom to insult their memory.

These men, “the 56 signers who adopted the Declaration of Independence and who, by their signing committed an act of treason against the crown for the support of this Declaration” - ’with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence’ - sacrificed “our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor” for your rights. Let me introduce them through these excerpts from an article written some fifty years ago by the father of radio host Rush Limbaugh and reprinted by Zero Hedge.

"The Americans Who Risked Everything" by Rush Limbaugh, Jr.

On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted…

With only a few exceptions, such as Samuel Adams of Massachusetts, these were men of substantial property. All but two had families. The vast majority were men of education and standing in their communities. They had economic security as few men had in the 18th Century.

Each had more to lose from revolution than he had to gain by it. John Hancock, one of the richest men in America, already had a price of 500 pounds on his head. He signed in enormous letters so that his Majesty could now read his name without glasses and could now double the reward. Ben Franklin wryly noted: "Indeed we must all hang together, otherwise we shall most assuredly hang separately."

Fat Benjamin Harrison of Virginia told tiny Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts: "With me it will all be over in a minute, but you, you will be dancing on air an hour after I am gone."

These men knew what they risked. The penalty for treason was death by hanging. And remember, a great British fleet was already at anchor in New York Harbor.

They were sober men. There were no dreamy-eyed intellectuals or draft card burners here. They were far from hot-eyed fanatics yammering for an explosion. They simply asked for the status quo. It was change they resisted. It was equality with the mother country they desired. It was taxation with representation they sought. They were all conservatives, yet they rebelled.

It was principle, not property, that had brought these men to Philadelphia…

Richard Henry Lee, a delegate from Virginia, had introduced the resolution to adopt the Declaration of Independence in June of 1776. He was prophetic in his concluding remarks: "Why then sir, why do we longer delay? Why still deliberate? Let this happy day give birth to an American Republic. Let her arise not to devastate and to conquer but to reestablish the reign of peace and law.

"The eyes of Europe are fixed upon us. She demands of us a living example of freedom that may exhibit a contrast in the felicity of the citizen to the ever-increasing tyranny which desolates her polluted shores. She invites us to prepare an asylum where the unhappy may find solace, and the persecuted repost.

"If we are not this day wanting in our duty, the names of the American Legislatures of 1776 will be placed by posterity at the side of all of those whose memory has been and ever will be dear to virtuous men and good citizens." …

Even before the list was published, the British marked down every member of Congress suspected of having put his name to treason. All of them became the objects of vicious manhunts. Some were taken. Some, like Jefferson, had narrow escapes. All who had property or families near British strongholds suffered.

·         Francis Lewis, New York delegate saw his home plundered -- and his estates in what is now Harlem -- completely destroyed by British Soldiers. Mrs. Lewis was captured and treated with great brutality. Though she was later exchanged for two British prisoners through the efforts of Congress, she died from the effects of her abuse.

·         William Floyd, another New York delegate, was able to escape with his wife and children across Long Island Sound to Connecticut, where they lived as refugees without income for seven years. When they came home they found a devastated ruin.

·         Philips Livingstone had all his great holdings in New York confiscated and his family driven out of their home. Livingstone died in 1778 still working in Congress for the cause.

·         Louis Morris, the fourth New York delegate, saw all his timber, crops, and livestock taken. For seven years he was barred from his home and family.

·         John Hart of Trenton, New Jersey, risked his life to return home to see his dying wife. Hessian soldiers rode after him, and he escaped in the woods. While his wife lay on her deathbed, the soldiers ruined his farm and wrecked his homestead. Hart, 65, slept in caves and woods as he was hunted across the countryside. When at long last, emaciated by hardship, he was able to sneak home, he found his wife had already been buried, and his 13 children taken away. He never saw them again. He died a broken man in 1779, without ever finding his family.

·         Dr. John Witherspoon, signer, was president of the College of New Jersey, later called Princeton. The British occupied the town of Princeton, and billeted troops in the college. They trampled and burned the finest college library in the country.

·         Judge Richard Stockton, another New Jersey delegate signer, had rushed back to his estate in an effort to evacuate his wife and children. The family found refuge with friends, but a Tory sympathizer betrayed them. Judge Stockton was pulled from bed in the night and brutally beaten by the arresting soldiers. Thrown into a common jail, he was deliberately starved. Congress finally arranged for Stockton's parole, but his health was ruined. The judge was released as an invalid, when he could no longer harm the British cause. He returned home to find his estate looted and did not live to see the triumph of the Revolution. His family was forced to live off charity.

·         Robert Morris, merchant prince of Philadelphia, delegate and signer, met Washington's appeals and pleas for money year after year. He made and raised arms and provisions which made it possible for Washington to cross the Delaware at Trenton. In the process he lost 150 ships at sea, bleeding his own fortune and credit almost dry.

·         George Clymer, Pennsylvania signer, escaped with his family from their home, but their property was completely destroyed by the British in the Germantown and Brandywine campaigns.

·         Dr. Benjamin Rush, also from Pennsylvania, was forced to flee to Maryland. As a heroic surgeon with the army, Rush had several narrow escapes.

·         John Martin, a Tory in his views previous to the debate, lived in a strongly loyalist area of Pennsylvania. When he came out for independence, most of his neighbors and even some of his relatives ostracized him. He was a sensitive and troubled man, and many believed this action killed him. When he died in 1777, his last words to his tormentors were: "Tell them that they will live to see the hour when they shall acknowledge it [the signing] to have been the most glorious service that I have ever rendered to my country."

·         William Ellery, Rhode Island delegate, saw his property and home burned to the ground.

·         Thomas Lynch, Jr., South Carolina delegate, had his health broken from privation and exposures while serving as a company commander in the military. His doctors ordered him to seek a cure in the West Indies and on the voyage, he and his young bride were drowned at sea.

·         Edward Rutledge, Arthur Middleton, and Thomas Heyward, Jr., the other three South Carolina signers, were taken by the British in the siege of Charleston. They were carried as prisoners of war to St. Augustine, Florida, where they were singled out for indignities. They were exchanged at the end of the war, the British in the meantime having completely devastated their large landholdings and estates.

·         Thomas Nelson, signer of Virginia, was at the front in command of the Virginia military forces. With British General Charles Cornwallis in Yorktown, fire from 70 heavy American guns began to destroy Yorktown piece by piece. Lord Cornwallis and his staff moved their headquarters into Nelson's palatial home. While American cannonballs were making a shambles of the town, the house of Governor Nelson remained untouched. Nelson turned in rage to the American gunners and asked, "Why do you spare my home?" They replied, "Sir, out of respect to you." Nelson cried, "Give me the cannon!" and fired on his magnificent home himself, smashing it to bits. But Nelson's sacrifice was not quite over. He had raised $2 million for the Revolutionary cause by pledging his own estates. When the loans came due, a newer peacetime Congress refused to honor them, and Nelson's property was forfeited. He was never reimbursed. He died, impoverished, a few years later at the age of 50.

Lives, Fortunes, Honor

Of those 56 who signed the Declaration of Independence, nine died of wounds or hardships during the war. Five were captured and imprisoned, in each case with brutal treatment. Several lost wives, sons or entire families. One lost his 13 children. Two wives were brutally treated. All were at one time or another the victims of manhunts and driven from their homes. Twelve signers had their homes completely burned. Seventeen lost everything they owned. Yet not one defected or went back on his pledged word. Their honor, and the nation they sacrificed so much to create is still intact.

And, finally, there is the New Jersey signer, Abraham Clark.

He gave two sons to the officer corps in the Revolutionary Army. They were captured and sent to that infamous British prison hulk afloat in New York Harbor known as the hell ship Jersey, where 11,000 American captives were to die. The younger Clarks were treated with a special brutality because of their father. One was put in solitary and given no food. With the end almost in sight, with the war almost won, no one could have blamed Abraham Clark for acceding to the British request when they offered him his sons' lives if he would recant and come out for the King and Parliament. The utter despair in this man's heart, the anguish in his very soul, must reach out to each one of us down through 200 years with his answer: "No." …

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/folder/american_who_risked_everything_1.guest.html

TFMetals Report, Lives, Fortunes And Honor; 07/02/2011, http://www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-post-lives-fortunes-and-honor

These are the inalienable rights that Obama, like his latest Supreme Court appointment, Elena Kagan, declines to accept as the basis for America’s founding.

…Kagan in her hearing testimony continuously refusing to endorse the natural rights put forth in the Independence proclamation, implying without it being named, that she would not support the Declaration as a legal document; Obama daily dismantling theses rights in his words and decrees.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 17:59 | 4833136 kareninca
kareninca's picture

Oh, calm down. You misread my post. I very much value religion and the pursuit of honor, but I don't want people to be obsessed with them.  Our country's founding fathers were religious and honorable, but they were not obsessed.  There's a big difference between dying for an honorable cause, and killing because one's sense of honor was offended.  Check out the Middle East  -  that is what you get when people are obsessed with religion and honor.  The most religious and honorable Americans in the historical instances you cite, were not forcing people to convert to another religion; they weren't stoning errant women to death; they weren't suicide bombing.

And so, if there is going to be an obsession, yes, I'd prefer it were in pursuit of material junk, so that the obsessed ones will leave me the fuck alone (since I'm sure I wouldn't conform to the requirements of their obsessions).

BTW, didn't you notice that my examples were of honor-killings and forced worship?  If you think that a disparaging reference to religious obsession and honor-killings is directed at the sane American historical figures you cite, you really need to read a few history and anthropology texts and current newspapers.  It's a big world out there; humans have been around for a while.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 01:39 | 4832044 williambanzai7
williambanzai7's picture

I don't think all Americans are obssessed with wealth. Getting by on 25,000 PA will do just fine as an obsession.

But all the shitheads who watch CNN regularly are most certainly obssessed with wealth.

Just remember, there is no CNN in the next world.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 02:42 | 4832071 UselessEater
UselessEater's picture

Some seem to be obssessed with the idea they have wealth and can't see its no longer wealth in real terms, especially in comparison to other nations who once had a middle class with considerably less wealth and opportunity. There in lies the problem perhaps, not recognising the real slip in standards of living and therefore not getting actively involved in stopping cronyism and the easy path for big corporations unavailable to SMEs. Suddenly its not effort to control cronyism but staring at a lottery ticket screen marvelling how some other guy did it and thinking we're still the best (no awareness illegal-crony-regulation helped); but a lottery meme instills "hope and change" thinking; we know the reality is the boiling frog.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 02:35 | 4832067 CaptainSpaulding
CaptainSpaulding's picture

The less money i have, The better i feel. As of now, I feel great. I have nuttin!

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 12:19 | 4832516 PT
PT's picture

Whose computer are you using?

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 02:39 | 4832069 pcrs
pcrs's picture

The problem is not the love of money, but the approval of violence. Without violence the love of money can only be realised by producing stuff for your fellow men. That would be good. But money with violence will result in plunder, taxation and regulation of your fellow man.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 05:48 | 4832129 shouldvekilledthem
shouldvekilledthem's picture

It's not purely violence but a central entity enjoying ultimate power over money (and ultimately over everyone in the system).

This is why bitcoin is so important. It's the first money system that doesn't require a central entity (with unique priviliges) to work.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 18:47 | 4833261 pcrs
pcrs's picture

That monopoly is based on violence. Without violence money alternatives like the liberty dollar would be accepted. Bitcoin they would stop if they could. Stop with violence

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 03:23 | 4832084 orangegeek
orangegeek's picture

Money obsession is MSM/government pump - and enough minions watch and believe and PRESTO we have our issue now.

 

 

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 03:33 | 4832088 JailBanksters
JailBanksters's picture

It can't end, and it won't end

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 16:16 | 4832745 ndree
ndree's picture

Of course it will end...the question is not WHERE nor WHEN but HOW!

Those that manage and many that profit from the runawa ygravy train see ithe end coming....and like a ponzi scheem they seek to add new levels to the pyramid (ex Ukraine)...hoping to ward off the inevitable. When they discover major resistance to their efforts to keep the ponzi afloat....in desperation and panick, ...all out war would be their only exit. So the end will either be successful resistance on the mass level thru' alternate lifestyles, or thru' someone with balls and backbone like the Russians, or all out war....and who knows how that will end!

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 15:11 | 4832102 Death By Cold S...
Death By Cold Steel Report's picture

100% Econonomic Collapse is the only way to change things short of a Armed Rebellion...  The Collapse is easier to create, and less bloody; though there will still be those hurt; but much fewer. 

The Best Advice I ever gotten was this; and it was just stop FN with them. Don't buy there cars, and do as little business with the system as possible. That's why they HATE GOLD AND SILVER STACKERS, SURVIVALIST, AND OFF THE GRID PEOPLE even more...

I make a nice coin; and after I started not buying the new cars and going out too eat and shopping at the stores. I noticed one strange thing. I got more coin then I really need to survive, so now I just help others with their preps and stuff; and keep mines good and tidy...

If more people live by this creed over the next 2-5 years the system will fall.... I'm also a Mathematician and this is my estimate based on current debt levels and job/market participation. There is only so much they can Give the Wealthy ie the top of the 1% before they Blow a Fuse any moment now... You can Take home $250K Running a $3 Million dollar business or $120K putting in 450 hrs a Month working in the energy sector.

 

Stop trading on the Market with them; you don't need anything more then a Warm House ect... For the Record; in a stable economic enviorment you can be middle class on $45 a year. You don't need 6 figures or anything along those lines.  Everytime they introduce policy that tries to force you into the market; is proof positive that its collapsing. 

 


Sat, 06/07/2014 - 05:03 | 4832113 basho
basho's picture

"As one digs deeper into the national character of the Americans, one sees that they have sought the value of everything in this world only in the answer to this single question: how much money will it bring in? " - Alexis de Tocqueville 1805-1859

nothing has changed

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 05:05 | 4832115 itstippy
itstippy's picture

Most are familiar with the expression, "Time is money."  It's generally used to encourage people to get off their butts and go do something useful, for which they will be paid money, which is a good thing to have.  I've lived by this credo for decades.

Being an equation (Time=Money), it works both ways - money is time.  I'm in my mid-50's now, and my body is starting to wear out.  There's so very much I want to see and do and learn about yet in this World, and my store of time is running low.  I'd like a reliable "unearned" income stream so I can stop spending all my time working for money and pursue my many non-remunerative interests.

I have no desire to own a Lamborghini, drink $800-a-bottle wine, or live in a 12,000-square-foot mansion with gold toilets & servants.  I like my reliable old pickup truck, cheap beer, and cozy little house with its white Kohler porcelain toilet.  I simply want more time for reading and thinking, tinkering in my shop, sitting with Mrs. Tippy, and maintaining my humble possessions.  Perhaps raise some corn and beans and squash and bees and such.  

It takes a considerable stash of invested money to support such a lifestyle.  I'm almost there; another five years and I'll be able to make it my reality.  

Money is time, and time gets more priceless as you get older.  Don't waste your money on foolishness, and try not to let the jackals loot your stash.  It's a jungle out there, but sometimes you run across some coconuts.  When you do you should eat a few, give a few away, and stash the rest in a safe place.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 08:39 | 4832210 barroter
barroter's picture

"Money is time, and time gets more priceless as you get older.  Don't waste your money on foolishness, and try not to let the jackals loot your stash.  It's a jungle out there, but sometimes you run across some coconuts.  When you do you should eat a few, give a few away, and stash the rest in a safe place."

I agree. We should go bowling together sometime.  The only hobby I spent considerable money on was my component stereo system (music is the best!).  All other things did not have to be made of Gold and "good enough" was good enough for me. Modest house, modest carpet, modest toilet. You get the point.

A close friend, who owns a small business repairing diesel engines works 70 hrs a week, has just Sundays off.  He does make the $$ but what does he do on Sundays?  He collapses into his Lazy Boy recliner and can't get up because his body is so beat from the work. He did get the nice house with the nice HUGE lawn out front, but after sitting in the recliner he realizes he has to cut this acre of a lawn...burning up more of his time.  Privately he tells me he wants to chuck it all and sell fresh corn from a roadside stand if he could, something easy and dumb.  He opined to me once.  "Hell, I'd change oil all day at Pep Boys for $14 an hour and be happier!"   But, his leech of a wife won't ever let that happen...that stream of money would dry up.  His wife, when newly  married,  was lower middle class.  Now she's addicted to the status and rank she married in to.

We all have our idea of Paradise but I swear, some Paradises look too costly to achieve.  And if you get it,  where's the fun  in that if you have lost most of your energy, youth and stamina? 

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 10:20 | 4832293 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

Your friend should cut his hours in half and if his trashy wife leaves, fine. He can giver her half and pay some alimony. My sense is that he kinda likes his status as well. So he will keep working like that until he drops dead and then the wife will have it all except for the income stream. But she can pick up a boyfriend.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 05:22 | 4832120 giggler321
giggler321's picture

the metal bugs and electro-coin bods are all part of the mix, hoping 2 better their situation @ some point.  This is no diff 2 the rest of the cash worshipers who r talked about in this article.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 07:04 | 4832162 deerhunter
deerhunter's picture

we had some teens over at the pool yesterday.  I asked a 14 year old boy to turn off the water and reel up the hose for me. He walked over to the faucet and turned and looked at me and asked which way to turn the handle.  Then instead of reeling up the hose he walked over to the pool and removed the hose and walked it back to the side of the house.  Not making this up.  At 14 I worked in an orchard summers.  Drove a stick shift pickup in the fields.  Helped manage a crew of migrant workers with the owner of the orchard and tallied and paid the day laborers at the end of the day for the fruit they picked.

When you expect nothing or next to nothing from your kids that is exactly what you will get.  I remember asking the owner of the orchard what it was like owning all that property and having a lot of money.  I was closer to 18 by that time.  He looked over at me and said we really don't own anything,  it is my privelage to take care of it for a while.  And as for money if you chase it you will never catch enough.  He was a man of few words but I learned more working for and with him and his family in four summers than four years of college and my subsequent 40 years of living.

Mom used to say having no or little money could be inconvenient at times.  I have had it, lost it, had plenty and had little.  Currently I am much closer to the little end of the equation.  Godly contentment with little is great gain.  I read that in a Book I read.  I endeavor to live there.  I did teach the young man how a  hose reel works yesterday.  Rightie tightie lefty Lucie.  He liked that.  I think he will remember.  I hope.  Without hope we die.  Good weekend to all. 

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 10:14 | 4832284 The Most Intere...
The Most Interesting Frog in the World's picture

We are not asking a whole lot from adults. why the hell should we ask more of our children? Hey my kid strikes out in a baseball game he has to go sit down. He fails a test he gets an f. If my son who is not quite 16 gets in a car and drives around and gets caught he gets arrested.

compare that to a Wall Street banker who tanks the economy and gets bailed out. They should have failed. Compare my sons consequences to IRS employees who spend $50,000 of taxpayer money producing a Star Trek video and spend millions more on lavish over the top trips and goodies and don't get fired. That money should have come out of the pay and benefits accrued to them. Compare to a jackass that has been smoking for 20 years despite a cancer warning right on the fucking package but then gets tens of thousands of dollars in health care reimbursements through the Medicare system forcing younger taxpayer suckers to foot the bill. Let her die! Compare the 14 year old kid to speculators who continue to make bets that would make no sense in a world of true consequence. Stop sacrificing our children's future and subjecting them to a life of debt servitude to keep wealthy pockets lined w cash. I could go on...

I totally get your point but in many ways our children face far more consequences to their actions than many adults do.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 07:03 | 4832163 deerhunter
deerhunter's picture

we had some teens over at the pool yesterday.  I asked a 14 year old boy to turn off the water and reel up the hose for me. He walked over to the faucet and turned and looked at me and asked which way to turn the handle.  Then instead of reeling up the hose he walked over to the pool and removed the hose and walked it back to the side of the house.  Not making this up.  At 14 I worked in an orchard summers.  Drove a stick shift pickup in the fields.  Helped manage a crew of migrant workers with the owner of the orchard and tallied and paid the day laborers at the end of the day for the fruit they picked.

When you expect nothing or next to nothing from your kids that is exactly what you will get.  I remember asking the owner of the orchard what it was like owning all that property and having a lot of money.  I was closer to 18 by that time.  He looked over at me and said we really don't own anything,  it is my privelage to take care of it for a while.  And as for money if you chase it you will never catch enough.  He was a man of few words but I learned more working for and with him and his family in four summers than four years of college and my subsequent 40 years of living.

Mom used to say having no or little money could be inconvenient at times.  I have had it, lost it, had plenty and had little.  Currently I am much closer to the little end of the equation.  Godly contentment with little is great gain.  I read that in a Book I read.  I endeavor to live there.  I did teach the young man how a  hose reel works yesterday.  Rightie tightie lefty Lucie.  He liked that.  I think he will remember.  I hope.  Without hope we die.  Good weekend to all. 

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 08:00 | 4832189 bescobar
bescobar's picture

THE GREATEST GENERATION

 

Lesson # 1: Take Personal Responsibility for Your Life

 

Lesson #2: Be Frugal

 

Lesson #3: Be Humble

 

Lesson #4: Love Loyally

 

Lesson #5: Work Hard

 

Lesson #6: Embrace Challenge

 

Lesson #7: Don’t Make Life So Damn Complicated

 

We seem to have lost this traits in this country. There will never be a generation like 'The Greatest Generation' again

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 12:24 | 4832532 PT
PT's picture

Not good enough.  Bits are missing.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 08:16 | 4832198 barroter
barroter's picture

I never got caught up in "Keeping up with the Joneses."  I would watch them go into hock for the deeper pool, nicer car or fancier vacations.  I got used to having my face rubbed in their trinkets here and there and after a while, it no longer hurts.  "You have a $1,500 gas grill? Wonderful.!" I'd say...and leave it at that.

One of these Joneses had a bumper sticker that read: "I Owe, I Owe, So Off to Work I Go." 

It slowly dawned on me they were "rich" because of credit, not owning $.  Hell, anyone can seem rich when on credit!

I never did buy "things," instead I bought time with my disposable income.  As they drove off angry or depressed on Monday morns to work, I lazed around having the day off because I could.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 10:39 | 4832315 Zeta Reticuli
Zeta Reticuli's picture

I was a Realtor in a wealthy area of CT in the Eighties. I was privy to a lot of financial information because I had to get these people through mortgage approval for huge homes. I had the reputation (well earned) that I could get anybody a mortgage. You would be surprised how many were juggling a lot of plates and only appeared to have real wealth. Their high incomes were gobbled up by their lifestyle.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 09:10 | 4832232 Loophole
Loophole's picture

I agree with Ayn Rand. Money is the root of all good. Its value is based on man's productive ability, and being productive is man 's most noble activity.

Those who claim otherwise are the sick SOBs.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 09:21 | 4832245 Chuck Knoblauch
Chuck Knoblauch's picture

Making money on money is not being productive, it's being a parasite.

A parasite on those who do provide goods and services.

 

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 09:11 | 4832234 TrulyStupid
TrulyStupid's picture

If the Constitution is the soul of America... then greed has already killed it. Money has corrupted all three branches of government to the point that justice is bought (and sold) and civil servants are now civic masters.

 

RIP

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 17:10 | 4833116 Frilton Miedman
Frilton Miedman's picture

 

 

 

Actually, said civil servants have become puppets & spokemen for their masters.

Any Rep or Senator that opposes the interests of the wealthy is replaced with one who abides.

95% of all elections are won by the candidate with the most financial backing.

We have SCOTUS to thank, "bribery is free speech".

 

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 09:16 | 4832241 TinF0ilHat
TinF0ilHat's picture

This is just a hot piece on people with money.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 09:36 | 4832252 nick howdy
nick howdy's picture

You need a bit of greed, to live period, but when the rest of the world has to suffer or you have to destroy others for you to keep what you have or gain more.. You are committing a sin and a crime... Ayn Rand would not approve of the crony capitalism substituting itself for actual capitalism...Where we are at this moment

In her world the captains of industry had some scruples, they had to, we were trying to prove that our system was morally correct.. Now they don't have to do that...

Money is important... and dare I say we will be getting a nice
lesson on the difference between money and currency...as if the devaluation wasn't enough of a lesson.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 10:26 | 4832302 The Most Intere...
The Most Interesting Frog in the World's picture

Props to Ayn Rand!

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 09:53 | 4832262 messymerry
messymerry's picture

Thank you Michael,

I really appreciate all the great comments on this thread butt, I have to add this: There is an old saying on Wall St., "The market is driven by two emotions, greed and fear". This is an oh, so universal statement. If you boiled humanity down to two primal emotions, this would be it. Sorry love, love is a distant third...

If you are trying to dowse the truth from something you see or hear, try applying one or both of these primal drivers to the situation and viola, you will almost always hit on the correct answer.

IMHO, the collapse will commence within the next 24 months and it will ramp up quickly after that. I will guess that rampant bail-ins will be the trigger.

OFF TOPIC: Bowe Bergdahl is deep in the bowels of the State and they are keeping him under wraps for what reason??? I'm wondering, has our "dear leader" made a deal with the devil? I expect that Mr. Bergdahl's brain will be quite empty by the time he surfaces and his family has been handsomely renumuerated for their silence. They will not be able to hide the fact that they were given hush money. Let's see if the MSM will report on their sudden wealth... ;-D

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 10:04 | 4832270 nick howdy
nick howdy's picture

Greed is an action.. Not an emotion....

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greed

It's like sex and when things get too perverse in any of
those realms then something needs to get done... Especially
when you are hurting children.. Which pedophilia and excess greed can do.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 10:11 | 4832278 Marc To Market
Marc To Market's picture

This is a rich criticism from the Tylers.  Is there any place that Zero Hedge will not take an ad from ? 

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 10:14 | 4832282 Magnum
Magnum's picture

As usual Michael Snyder is full of crap. I find that there are far more people crazed with wealth in Asia. China and Thailand are two good examples.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 10:21 | 4832295 The Most Intere...
The Most Interesting Frog in the World's picture

Money and greed are not the problems. Theft is not the problem. A society that looks the other way is.

All it takes for evil to rule the world, is for enough good people to do nothing. Edmund Burke

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 11:25 | 4832360 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

But without income disparity, what will cause the upcoming class wars?

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 11:51 | 4832430 Walt D.
Walt D.'s picture

"Greed is a state variable - you can not do anything about it. Trying to stop people from being greedy is like trying to stop teenagers from being horny" . Woody Brock.

 

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 12:09 | 4832482 AnAnonymous
AnAnonymous's picture

And?

Any society comes with values, that reward/suppress behaviours.

Being horny does not mean forcefully getting laid.
Being greedy does not mean forcelly the ever ramping overconsumption spree 'americans' have pushed humanity in.

'Americans' value greed much. It is one measurement standard of their society.

Just as they value the State.

Just as they eliminated state less societies, they eliminated societies that suppressed greed.

Greed is good. Because growth is infinite for people who can overcome the environment.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 21:07 | 4833476 HalinCA
HalinCA's picture

If greed is good, why is it one of the seven deadly sins?

Choose a different word to describe the concept you are defending, or stay on the the wrong side of the culture and tradition that birthed you.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 12:20 | 4832519 JR
JR's picture

If greed were the operative word of civilizations, there would be no civilization. The majority of people are not greedy.

Greed is an inappropriate word for individuals acting in their self interest.  Because in that case, the individual is following the custom of ethics and honest dealings with his fellow man.

The word greed signifies grabbing and pushing oneself to the front of the line (Michelle Obama?), taking what’s nailed down and if necessary cheating and hoarding. It is a description of the international banker (and certain races) who uses every avenue to obtain wealth and power including bribing government officials, use of fraudulent contracts, forming monopolies and cartels, foreclosing on possible competitors and banning together as a tribe to exploit the individual. 

Oracle of K wrote on ZH in 2010:

It's fast becoming a game of trust...trust needs to be restored…

Theft: Dishonesty, appropriating property, belonging to another, with the intent of permanently depriving the other of it.

When the world wakes-up and realizes that QE is nothing more than complex Theft, then what will follow is a correction beyond Inflation, Deflation, or Stagflation...beyond temporary!

It won't be a currency that falls, it will be Trust in the population which holds lifestyle above all else, and/or a population which has lost control of an elite few (the latter can be rectified through revolutionary means, the former is a death sentence).

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 21:03 | 4833467 HalinCA
HalinCA's picture

Bingo

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 21:02 | 4833463 HalinCA
HalinCA's picture

And so goes the Marxist line of thought that religion is the opiate of the masses. Yet in all places in all times humanity has concluded materialism is a hollow empty vessel to put their hopes for happiness into. They refuse to accept life's purpose ends at the altar of "stuff".

Pity you are stuck there.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 12:00 | 4832448 cynicalskeptic
cynicalskeptic's picture

America's obsession with money will end when they find out that their money is worthless and their wealth has evaporated.

 

Of course the truly wealthy will have sheltered THEIR fortunes and will add to them substantialy buying up even more at pennies to the (former) dollar when it all does collapse.  

Isn't that the plan?

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 12:20 | 4832520 Walt D.
Walt D.'s picture

I think you are spot on. You can not create wealth by printing money out of thin air. You need to create goods and services that people want. We have seen this with the .com bubble, the housing bubble, and we will see it again with the current stock market bubble. This does not mean that that some people can not exchange their over-valued stocks for luxury cars, houses. You are only really protected in a collapse if you have a stream of income derived from selling a tangible commodity that people want and need, like an oil well. Money in a bank if likely to be "bailed in" - a euphemism for "stolen". (This is already being planned.)

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 12:04 | 4832464 AnAnonymous
AnAnonymous's picture

Greed is human condition.

All human beings are not equal. Making that not every society, culture are equal.

Greed is good. Good societies are made of good people therefore greedy people.

The betterment of any society only goes through the selection of greedier and greedier people who alone can improve on what has been accomplished so far.

Therefore the less greedy part of humanity must be made irrelevant or eliminated.

Greed is human condition.

Signed: an American.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 12:20 | 4832517 nick howdy
nick howdy's picture

Improvent for whom? Excess in anything is not good...Water is perfectly benign..But drink enough of it and it will make you sick...

If greed hurts others you are doing the wrong thing. Period...In other words...There must be a value for value reationship in your undertakings..

We must have balance...The current situtuation is insustainable...War and death are the easiest fix for our oligarchs...

WE have to stop worshipping the immoral..

 

 

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 17:19 | 4833134 Frilton Miedman
Frilton Miedman's picture

 

 

 

Perfect.

Greed is to capitalism as fists are to boxing.

In boxing - with no ref, no rules and no judges, the boxer with brass knuckles and concealed salt will win the match every time.

It's then no longer a match of the better fighter, but a match of the lowest ethics.

Greed is supposed to motivate participants to improve, not suppress competition.

 

 

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 12:10 | 4832486 Walt D.
Walt D.'s picture

The real canard in the wealth inequality class warfare meme is the notion that people want to be equal. When people see "Lifestyes of the Rich and Famous", they want the lifestyle of the rich and famous, not the lifestyle of Mother Theresa.

There is a problem with income redistribution caused by economic shortage.

Suppose Bill Gates gave $50 billion to 200,000 people - that is $250,000 each - enough to buy a Ferrari. However, Ferrari only produces a few cars a day. 200,000 can not all have a Ferrari. (Before you say that they could build another factory, there is already a 2 year waiting list).

Suppose instead that Bill gave 500 people $100 million - enought to buy Paul Allen or Larry Ellison's yacht. There are not 500 boatyards to build these boats.

Suppose instead Bill gave 1000 people $50 million, enought to buy Donald Trump's penthouse. There are not 1000 $50 million penthouses in NYC.

Suppose you take something more modest - a Michelle Obama vacation schedule 30 days a $10,000 a night. Same problem - no room to accomodate 200,000 people, particularly if they all want to go at the same times.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 12:39 | 4832579 divingengineer
divingengineer's picture

The wealthy elite have learned how to generate wealth without production. We are now worthless eaters to them.  

A liability. 

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 13:13 | 4832647 Walt D.
Walt D.'s picture

What we have seen is the end of the rule of law. AIG Bailout = Goldman Sachs handout, Solyndra, mortgage fraud, the coming bail ins. The people who are getting really rich are getting rich by using the power of the government to steal. This has nothing to do with the greed of the average citizen. Not ever American is greedy - a large number of people of moderate means give a lot of money to charity.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 18:06 | 4833160 Frilton Miedman
Frilton Miedman's picture

 

In the same line of thinking, if Don Trump gave 10% of his wealth to 2000 low income households, they could buy a modest home & get off subsidized housing.

If Dave & Charles Koch did the same 10%, it would buy a home for 16,000.

10% from the Walton family would equate to 32,000 homes.

It also begets the question whether any of the above have indirect investment interests in subsidized housing.

We do know the Walton family lobbied against food stamp cuts, for the fact that such a large % of their employess depend on them.

 

 

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 21:39 | 4833526 Walt D.
Walt D.'s picture

You are right - a billion dollars does not go far in a population of 330 million. So a few people "win the lottery", meanwhile 93 million are not working. It would cost $2.8 trillion to pay these people a $15 an hour minimum wage (that is being proposed).

It goes even less far if the money is redistibuted to the 7 billion people on the planet.

Sun, 06/08/2014 - 00:44 | 4833739 Frilton Miedman
Frilton Miedman's picture

 

 

"... It would cost $2.8 trillion to pay these people a $15 an hour minimum wage..."

 

Not knowing what or where the "$2.8 trillion" figure comes from, you assume these workers are paid for no reason with no ROI - as if it's a social entitlement program.

As business owner, I wouldn't hire a worker if I don't need him, whether it's $7.25 or $20, I'm not paying anyone for no reason.

If the cost of labor increases, I increase price, if my competitors are facing the same rates, they also increase price, there's no disadvantage to me or them.

To exemplify that, McDonald's food incorporates 20% the cost for labor in end price.

A 50% labor increase from $8/hr to $12/hr means a 10% increase in price, a $3 Big Mac will cost $0.30 more.

An income increase that huge to such a large fraction of the populace, the lowest income earners, goes directly back to the economy, these folks aren't exactly financial planners....and for the intent, that's a good thing.

 

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 15:23 | 4832918 Loophole
Loophole's picture

Chuck wrote ,

"Making money on money is not being productive, it's being a parasite."

If I rent someone my house, am I being a parasite?

Clearly not. It's just a trade made by mutual consent to mutual benefit.

If I sell my house and lend the money to someone for interest, am I exploiting anyone?

Of course not. It's just another kind of trade made for mutual benefit.

Money is wealth in liquid form.

Wealth, whether in tangible form or money, must be earned or produced. It's then used to live and be happy. And the right to use it includes the right to trade it.

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 19:04 | 4833177 Frilton Miedman
Frilton Miedman's picture

 

 

He's referring to some in the 0.1%, say, someone who invests in a defense contractor, then spends money on K st to lobby for needless weapon sales at taxpayer expense by threatening politicians with an election challenge if they don't abide, then gains off the stock surge.

Once wealth concentration reaches a certain level, it often becomes counterproductive to the rest to expect gains at a faster rate than GDP.

In my example, the gains come at taxpayer expense and the economy, yet the same 0.1% lobby's to maintain a proportionately lower tax bill.

This results in higher debt, cuts to smaller less influential contractors, gov employees, infrastructure, Social Securiity or higher taxes to you, me.

The weak link in the entire chain is allowing bribery in the guise of "free speech".

 

Mon, 06/09/2014 - 03:16 | 4836302 dreadnaught
dreadnaught's picture

Why DID Jesus throw the Moneylenders from the Temple in anger?

Sat, 06/07/2014 - 15:49 | 4832966 The Econ Ideal
The Econ Ideal's picture

Strikes me that the author has a narrow range definition of what money and wealth are. That is a mistake made by many. 

Sun, 06/08/2014 - 10:31 | 4834086 AdvancingTime
AdvancingTime's picture

What do stock markets around the world have in common with "girls gone wild" the video of college girls on spring break? The answer is both are crazy out of control. We have grown very complacent as money around the world has continued to flow into intangibles and promises. Currently the market is all a twitter and locked in a "greed and stupidity loop."

The loop can be explained as follows, stocks are rising so why get out, not getting out is causing the stocks to rise. When stocks do pullback it is a buying opportunity. Yes, we are indeed experiencing a double down and let it ride mentality. I don't have to explain the greed part. More on this subject in the article below.

http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2014/06/stock-markets-and-girls-gone-wild...

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!