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America's Poor Have Never Been Deeper In Debt
Ever since the Lehman bankruptcy, one of the main reasons given by the perpetual apologists about why i) the so-called "recovery" has been the worst in US history and ii) the Fed has been "forced" to conduct 6 years of wealth transferring policies, boosting the stock market to all time highs and creating a record wealth split in US society between the super rich and everyone else (one that surpasses even that seen during the roaring 20s) is that the US consumer, scarred by the economic crash, has been rushing to deleverage and dump as much debt as possible.
There are two problems with that story:
- First, as we first pointed out in 2012, US households are not deleveraging, they are defaulting, a huge difference which goes to motive and intent, and shows that instead of actively paying down debt households are instead loading up on as much debt as they can, which at some point they simply stop servicing (for a detailed analysis of this disturbing trend, read our series on the student loan bubble).
- Second, when it comes to the poorest quartile of US society, some 14 million people, it is dead wrong. In fact, as the Fed's triennial Survey of Consumer Finances, released last week showed, America's poorest have never been more in debt!
As usual, the full story is one of nuances. As Bloomberg reports, as a result of the first point - mass defaults - US household debt has indeed declined on an average basis. Indeed, average debt burden for all families stood at about 105% of pretax income in 2013, down from about 125% in 2010 and the lowest level since the 2001 survey.
Of course, since economists are unable to grasp the difference between default and deleveraging, one look at the chart above gives them reason for hope. As Bloomberg summarizes:
The improved finances, along with more recent signs that consumers are feeling comfortable about borrowing again, has given some economists cause for optimism: The more progress households make in getting out from under their debts, the logic goes, the greater the chances that renewed spending will boost growth.
In reality, the "improved finances", namely those tens of trillions in financial assets that have been artificially reflated courtesy of the Fed's monetary policies, have benefited the tiniest sliver of US society - about 1% or less depending on whose calculations one uses. Everyone else, the bulk of US society, was forced to simply stop paying down their credit card and thus "delever."
But for a good perspective of what the part of society that is at the opposite end of the 1%, namely those 14 million or so Americans who comprise the poorest quartile of households, look no further than the chart below, which shows just what Americans are really doing up until that point where default does equal "deleveraging", even if it means loss of access to all credit for a period of several years:
From Bloomberg: "The poorest quartile of families is the only group that owes more than it owns. Thanks to declines in the value of assets, the group's average leverage ratio -- debt as a percent of assets -- increased to 137.5 percent in 2013, the highest on record since the survey started in 1989."
And there you have it - not only is America not actively delveraging, on the contrary, it is loading up on as much debt as it possibly can (or banks will allow it judging by the decline in mortgage-type debt, driven mostly by supply constraints and qualification factors) until the band snaps and in a perverse circle of illogic, releveraging becomes default becomes deleveraging.
Bloomberg has some ideas here, including commenting on the one observations we have been making since 2011: the relentless rise in installment debt, i.e., student and car loans:
There are various possible explanations for the poorest families' financial predicament. Incomes have declined, making debt burdens look worse. Some previously wealthier people probably migrated into the group as the value of their homes fell below what they owed on mortgages. More ominous is a steady increase in installment debt, a category that includes both student and auto loans -- areas that have recently seen a lot of questionable lending to lower-income borrowers.
Bloomberg's conclusion:
Whatever the drivers, the data suggest that the 2008 crisis and subsequent economic malaise have left a troubling legacy: A group of the poorest families, numbering roughly 14 million, whose precarious finances make them vulnerable to shocks and limit their ability to contribute to future growth. That's hardly a strong foundation for a healthy recovery.
But mass "deleveraging" is good, they said. It means tons of pent up releveraging and recovery, they said...
While the lying is understandable - after all confidence must be rebuilt at all costs - what is worse is that the Fed believes it can withdraw from QEasing because it is convinced that US society as a whole is able to take on more debt, when in reality a record number of Americans are locked out of the debt market (due to recent or imminent defaults) for years. As a result the Fed's entire logic for pulling out of the market is based on an epically flawed assumption. Which is why, as we explained back in late 2013, we give the Fed a few months of POMO-ess shock and awe for the S&P500 mixed with fears of what a rate hike will do to the market, pardon economy, before the Untaper and the reZIRP fully enter the financial lexicon.
Finally, while we have shown this chart in the past, here it is again. It really does explain everything.
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But they are living the good life, right? Govt says so.
I owe my soul to the company store.
Debt = that difference between how much you make and how much it costs to live.
So true. More people need to learn to live within their means. Avoid debt at all costs.
.. people need to learn to live within their money not their means, just because you qualify for a zero interest loan doesn't mean you should..
"Means" today includes no down loans and refinancing gimmicks.
..If you don't got it don't spend it and sure as hell don't borrow for it- sound economic advice.
If we are going to be honest with ourselves, America's Poor Have never been Fatter, and Americas Middle Class has never been Poorer.
True, but it's not entirely their fault. For the most part, "eat less, work out more" won't work for them since the Food Industry has them in a chokehold made out of Sugar.
I don't blame them but I also don't think they are victims of the food industry. They have the choice whether or not to buy real food with welfare, Real food is cheaper. In the past they didin't have the choice and being on welfare sucked. It used to be that welfare was real food that you would have to go pick up at some gov centre and prepare at home. Bland and repetative but very healthy. We should return to that, for everyones benefit.
upped. I agree. All the info is out there if anyone is hungry enough for it.
when poor people owe a significant share of the total debt, and then they die, that debt must be re-assigned to persons with assets so that the debt can be paid rather than written off
that is called 'resolution'
please list your assets here
beginning with your health and well-being
Real food is cheaper. The problem is that people have forgotten how to prepare meals.
people have gotten lazy about preparing meals, because it's easier to pay someone else to do it.
olive garden has a $99 never-ending-pasta deal, mcdonalds has a 'value menu' and subway has $5 footlongs. at current minimum wage rates, why would you bother cooking instead of paying 1/2 hr of labor for a convenient meal? at least, that's the logic. that the food is poisonous doesn't usually register w/ the consumer.
grow your own. there's something about a meal that comes from the soil you own that makes it more delicious. you can almost taste the impact of ph adjustments you make throughout the year.
"olive garden has a $99 never-ending-pasta deal"
Really? $99 and I get pasta for the rest of my life? That is a good deal :D
I want to grow my own food. Used to have chickens, garden, the whole 9 yards. Then I got knifed in the back and I am still recovering.
knifed over some chickens? tomatoes? rough neighborhood, i guess.
next time don't turn your back to the guy with a knife... or learn some krav maga. you could spend over a month alone on the mechanics of disabling a knife wielding threat.
If I had a choice between a knife wound in the back or the stomach, I would take the back everytime. Used to be a gut wound was automatically fatal due to infection. These days, with antibiotic resistant bacteria, a trip to the emergency room might be fatal.
I think he means a divorce
Hahahaha she took his chickens, that wicked witch.
+1
all that debt has TWO signatures. The 'victims' can choose to stop being volunteers. Living outside of your means (money) is a choice. Saving/storing labor value in pretend money instead of real money is a choice. They choose not to learn from ZH fuck 'em.
Debt=that difference between how much you make and how much it costs for the actual necessities to live
Malls were empty this morning; department stores spooky. The few stragglers here and there had a pack of coupons in their skinny fingers hunting for a 90% discounted pair of socks or a pretty dress reduced 80%.
The Middle Class private sector is a Broke Down Donkey Deep in Debt.
What about the mall walkers?
The creepiest thing that I have ever seen are old people who walk the malls for exericise. They get there early, as soon as the doors open and walk back and forth in their tennis shoes, because malls are air-conditioned and have security against muggers.
not always - you're talking about debt with respect to spending more than one earns.
there is also debt that is referred to as "self-liquidating", i.e., borrowing money for something that will produce a return.
chris martenson just put out a new chapter 13 of the crash course today on youtube, very good, i recommend it:
The Crash Course - Chapter 13 - Debthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXHvaKA36YM
Easy credit to the idiots who are bad at math drives the prices of everything that we buy.
Win-win for the banksters.
So what if they rack up some debt that will not get paid off.
When you go to buy that new car for cash, you are competing for that product with any dipshit who can scribble his/her name on a loan application. No pressure for prices to fall.
"Incomes have declined, making debt ratios look worse."
Declining incomes make debt ratios worse -period.
It is not a matter of the APPEARANCE of debt ratios to income looking worse, it is a matter of debt ratios to income BEING worse!
We have this very nice woman who cleans our house and does an excellent job. I'm 100% sure she doesn't pay income tax on the money we pay her, but that's the IRS' problem.
Her son-in-law cuts down trees for a living, a common profession in the rural part of TN that I live in. A tree fell on him, crushed his pelvis and part of his neck. Amazingly, he is not paralyzed, but it is doubtful that he will ever walk again. He is basically self-employed, like most people around here, living pay-check to pay-check, and of course, he has no medical insurance.
My housekeeper and her relatives collected for the local form of insurance around here by standing at the only street-corner and collecting dollar bills and spare change in buckets. Despite the fact that nearly everybody lives near the poverty line, they are incredibly generous and I'm sure that they raised several hundred dollars.
Her son-in-law left the hospital $500,000 in debt and that is only the beginning. He will likely need care the rest of his life. When the debt collection agencies finally relent, he will have miraculously deleveraged by probably a million dollars, and he can live out the rest of his life on disability in peace.
And so the miracle of debt reduction continues.
Wealth transfer is just their polite way of saying hands up and empty your pockets bitches!
I had a guy working for me part time before he started fucking up. Paid him $16/hr too, his wife made fair money but was sick alot. They had two kids, and a few more by him forcing him to pay CS. They were on food stamps, assistant rent and God knows what else for the kids. Even with all that they were just getting by. I lent them some money to get new tires for their car because the four they had were bald as a baby's head and a death trap for them and others if one ever blew out.
Yea, when the freebies stop coming, the shit will START coming. All over.
Wife and I worked our asses off after college, paying down what was nomional debt compared to now. We waited a decade to have kids. Lived in a not so great neighborhood - had one car. Wife took mass transit to work - subway (I had to meet here at night) or later an hour + bus ride. A buddy and I used to buy up old cars and part them out on weekends - make a couple hundred bucks for the wekend. Eventually did well (and got lucky) - bought a house at the bottom of the market and saved enough to put two kids through good colleges.
In contrast we have a niece who skated through HS, never went further. Married a serviceman -was divorced less than 2 years later (pregnant - but didn't know it- God knows what the kid was exposed to while in utero). Was supposed to be going to school while he was on deployment but spent the time partying with other wives. I suspect she got married simply to have 'something' to do. She works minimum wage in fast food, gets a ton of government aid. She dumps the kid off on anyone she can whenever she can - is 'annoyed' that the child limits her ability to 'go out'. Totally irresponsible - the kid is doomed despite all the help she gets. While still married she drove up from SC to NY with NO money, depending on ine credit card to cover gas and tolls. Apparently resorted to crying and playing the 'my husband is in Iraq' routine to get through some tolls..... We reward irresponsible, STUPID behavior and penalize those that work hard and do the right thing. At one point she'd bought a brand new car - on credit (again, WTF?) totaling it a few month later. We didn't buy a NEW car until we were in out 40's
Hate to say it but some people are beyond help.
Off Topic: Ebola continues to roll across Africa with deaths reported in Nigeria and Congo. Whatever else happens, little will be spared in Central Africa.
Ebola Numbers Climb In DRCSA Breaking News via Yahoo! South Africa News Sep 12 02:34am
The Democratic Republic of Congo has seen its Ebola numbers double in one week, said the World Health Organisation on Friday. According to the organisation, the amount of confirmed and suspected cases has leaped to 62 and the death toll has increased to 35. The outbreak in Congo is not linked to epidemic in West"The outbreak in Congo is not linked to epidemic in West"
If you believe in coincidences, I suppose.
Two different strains kicking off independently of one another at the same point in time?
Hmmm.
Any statastician around to crunch the odds?
With all the other shit simultaneously going on in the ME and Ukraine factored in as "CIA inspired" global events...
Unlikely yes. The odd thing is that this has been spun as positive, that the disease is not traveling as far or fast as feared, because this is not quite the same strain. I don't see it that way.
Anytime a disease enters a new area, it can change its character dramaticly. This I think, is the real threat to Europe and North America.
Also, if there really are two distinct strains already, that queers the idea of immunity, even for survivors. Not good.
Doctors without Borders (aka MSF) has kept Africa from being annihilated by Ebola for forty years now. Now they are stretched beyond their limits. Apparently, it is very difficult to get MDs to work for shit wages in the cesspools of the world under incredibly dangerous conditions. So the degree to which they can expand their efforts is extremely limited. A second front in the Ebola war is the last thing that anybody needs.
Most Ebola outbreaks start with a zoonotic (animal to human) transmission event. It looks like those events are increasing in frequency, for whatever the reason.
But if the world doesn't get a handle on what's happening in West Africa stat, then we don't have to worry about animal vectors anymore.
But.butt.in the New Normal of the last 30+ years, debt is wealth...soooooo...those with the most debt are the wealthiest, actually...
They're offering brand new credit or refinancing terms
All you can eat for eternity w/ 0% down, $0 monthly payments
Just place your mark (X) here
And trade in your soul NOW!
Don't let your friends beat you to it
The first 666 win a free trip to the garden spot destination of your choice Saturn or Alpha Centauri
I'm curious. I know that everyone is under pressure to compete and many have bought into the MSM story line.
But, when does one take responsibility for themselves such as not getting into debt? I don't own a house, thus I have no mortgage. I chose that because I don't think I can afford it long term. I don't have a brand new car I bought with a loan.
I have basic needs and that is what my money goes toward. Big screen TV? Nope. Hell, I don't even own a pet because I feel I can't afford one and don't have the time to care for it. I work each week and I try to keep as much as that income in my pocket - period. Just because I don't have all the material things, doesn't make my life less. In fact, in the long term, it may make it more.
I'm with you in many respects (except I built my house with cash)...but I suspect we're the exception...unlike the rest who are both exceptional and indispensable.
PS. Live a little...get a pet rock, but just remember that pet rocks aren't just for Christmas...neglect it and the RSPCR will be knocking on your door and armed to their hind teeth with toys the gubermint gave them to protect high society along with all the other militarised agencies. ;)
Not getting into debt is a great idea. Living modestly and within your means is just plain smart and yes you will likely be happier for not having tied a rope around your neck while standing on a borrowed chair.
Unfortunately without new debt creation the financial system/economy will collapse sooner rather than later... so I guess that makes you a terrorist of sorts...
Ued to be YOU COULDN'T GET INTO DEBT if you couldn't afford to pay it off. Hell, we didn't even HAVE any credit cards after college - now they give them to kids still IN college with NO income.
We lived in crap apartments for a while because that's what we could afford. We had crappy long commutes by subway or bus when we couldn't afford a car. 'Furniture' was what we could scrounge - we bought a matterss after paying off the Wedding (neve did have a honeymoon)
Now we see couples having $40,000 weddings (paid for on credit). Kids have leased cars in college and more debt than they could EVER pay off before they're 25.
I'm still dumbfounded at teh credit card aps going to our kids when they finished HIGH SCHOOL - nevermind the ones when they were in college.
the trouble with "just because i don't have all the material things..." isn't internal, it's the popular perception that if you have money to buy more, you are expected to have more. if you don't people will look at you askance and wonder what is wrong with you.
my strategy is to overwhelm everyone with knowledge to the point where their childish materalism reflects their ignorance. it subdues their ego pretty quickly when they realize they overpaid for something they know less about than you. whether it's thread count, torque foot lbs, or pixels per inch, there's nothing more humbling than someone saying 'i don't know' about something they just spent thousands to 100s of thousands of dollars on just to impress.
Kinda weird , but the less I have the less I worry about how to find ways to keep it. I have shelter,my Son loves me dearly, and I ate today what more could I possibly need!! Thank you God!!
Amerika Stronk!
That's what amnesty is for, 15 or so million new debt slaves.
.
Been around a lot of Mexicans and they all pay cash for everything, things may have changed but not that much.
"That's what amnesty is for, 15 or so million new debt slaves."
People seem to forget what Paul Volcker did:
"According to the economic mythology written by our Revisionists (i.e. our “history”); Volcker almost single-handedly “rescued” the U.S. economy – and thus the entire Western bloc....
The reality was that Paul Volcker was a monetary berserker. The task assigned to him by his Masters (the Old World Order) was not to “save” our economies – but to destroy them. In a recent commentary; Darryl Schoon identifies what Paul Volcker really represented:
In August 1971, at the urging of Paul Volcker, then Under-Secretary of the Treasury, President Nixon ended the convertibility of the dollar to gold; and for the first time in history gold was no longer money...
Paul Volcker took full responsibility for triggering capitalism’s end game. In a 2013 interview, Volcker explained his role in that consequential act with more than a modicum of pride: “I certainly was a major proponent of suspending gold convertibility, in fact the principal planner.”
... it was the assassination of the gold standard (by Nixon/Volcker) which instigated the runaway inflation of the 1970’s – as all of our currencies were no longer “backed” (i.e. anchored) by any hard asset. Thus even if one actually believed the mythological account of Volcker’s exploits as written by the Revisionists; the best that could be said of this bankers’ stooge was that he was trying to fix a problem which he created.
Simply, Paul Volcker is the Father of Debt Slavery. He (more than any other single individual alive today) is personally responsible for enslaving our governments (and our populations) in debt – and thus enslaving them to the holders of (the vast majority of) those debts: the bankers, more specifically, the One Bank.
It was Paul Volcker who (according to his own boasts) was the principal Assassin of the gold standard, unleashing out-of-control inflation on the global economy. However, rather than doing anything to reverse/repair his original crime; Volcker used the inflation he created as a pretext for unleashing even greater and more-numerous economic evils upon us: debt slavery; massive/permanent unemployment; and the terminal, downward spiral in our economies – which now has the entire Western world on the precipice of economic Armageddon.
Paul Volcker, the Father of Debt Slavery, is not a “hero”. Quite simply; he is the most vile, economic villain of his era. Volcker, more than anyone else, is responsible for the devolution of the Middle Class into the Working Poor (across the Western world). “Homelessness” never existed in our (previously affluent) societies prior to the economic crimes of Volcker.
More than even B.S. Bernanke himself, Paul Volcker has done more to destroy-and-plunder our economies than any other individual alive today. It is just another one of the sick ironies of the Wonderland Matrix that our children are taught to revere rather than revile this villain."
Paul Volcker: Ultimate Villain
Hang on a minute...debt is wealth.
That snivelling turd Krugman said so...and he has been awarded a prize in economics from the same Nazionists that gave Obongo a prize for being 'peaceful' (after stumbling out of his choom wagon)...so he must be right.
two words: payday loan. So many people can't make ends meet, borrow on next weeks paycheck to pay the BMW lease, and put a down payment on the caribbian cruise. Some have even had to lay off household servants!
If every government just take on new dept with no intention to ever pay it off..... why should households/citizens be the only ones in the world that are supposed to pay off their dept??
Here's some schadenfreude for the poor:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2753877/Celebrities-billionaires...
Funniest thing i've seen all day.
How can the poor have allot of debt. For me when I was poor no one gave me credit cause no money to pay it back. Now i have a little money no debt and don't want any. If you can afford debt and you take on the responsibility then you made that choice and you will have to pay it back. I am that disconnected from reality that they are now loaning credit to people that don't have collateral or a job to pay it back? Cause if they are well then guess when its not paid back the creditor gets what he deserves fool
Always borrow money from a pessimist. He won't expect it back :)
But he will expect collateral.
Hey yall just read an article that Obama is resigning In november for 1/1/15 due to proof on Benghazi that fox presented to Issa
No idea what you are talking about - But the good news reminder that Obumer is leaving office was worth a click up! :)
Unless there is a state-of-emergency and he proclaims himself King for the duration! There goes my happy thought! :(
INITIAL STRUCTURE AND DESIGN, THE POINT.
They used to call it flying a kite !!!!
At least the 1% will own all the assets when they are given back all of the worthless debt owed to them by the 99%.
Then maybe they can have real slaves again too.
The poor learned from the government.
Glad you keep reality in front of us as a reminder and to slap the "virtual" government folks we have in the face once in a while to attempt to wake them up:)
Speaking of brains you may find this of interest when it comes to "The Brain Project" and hope that ours in the US doesn't become like the one in Europe or maybe they will learn from them. It appears here all the neuroscientists have left, felt betrayed as all the IT or technology side wanted to do was build a bigger data base and keep changing architectures.
It's quite the report from some of the neuroscientists themselves talking about how they were fooled. So indeed when you think about the bit touted US Brain program, give this some thought on what we're going to get there too:)
http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/09/european-brain-project-turning-in...
They need to further study how the US consumer's brain functions to make it easier to code hose us some more:) If they can tweak it to where we all believe debt is good, they'll have it made:) I found it interesting that neuroscientists are calling foul on the cognitive behavior folks that mostly come from IBM on what they are doing for their side of the Brain Project.
Proof positive the economy is flat line is how many reports of "Back to School" record sales have we heard? **crickets**
(I saw my first christmas, make that holiday tree this week)
This Christmas is going to be worse than the last 6 if we make it.
Cheer up, the recovery is already on the fast track both in US and Europe. Porsche sale figures are 18 months ahead of the target.
Everyone is expecting a Bailout from Barry, Pelosi, Reid, Bush, or whomever is in office; Dem Repugnican doesn't matter. That's the new merikan paradigm. Of course, not everyone feels that way but the majority do. Just ask some. Deep-in-Debt students expect a bailout as do new in-debt zero down house buyers. The psyche is so distorted now it's almost out of control. We're not alone. My Autralian friends just bought a $1.28 million place outside of Sydney with almost no money down on his sole salary of $72k a year. I know them well so i asked how the heck they were going to pay for it, esp if Joe losses his brand new job. They said, "No worries, the Gubmint will bail all the underwater homeowners out like they did in Merika." It's friggin crazy!
That's why I agree with those who are pessimistic about the global economy. It's all built on debt and dreams and hope ... very little in the way of common sense and hard fundamentals.
Most normal people are not exspecting anything from this present government or the next to come. they see the handwriting on the wall. This article is about the average working class, who own something, pay property taxes, do not receive foodstamps or free lunches for their kids at school, did not get a subsidy for their health-care, still take care of their teeth, and have seen wages stagnant but food and energy rise through inflation. We are being bled dry.
i've been in business for thirty-five years, paid and COLLECTED thousands of dollars in taxes. and really hate to see everything just flow away. Good luck anybody under thirty years of age.
The article does not define "the bottom quartile" does it? ... but I don't think they are talking about the average american worker who makes abut $51k a year. At least that's the impresion I got. In any case, the economy stinks imo except for the very top.
That was a problem with the article, not explaining who the poor were. But most posters here seem to believe its the bottom layer of Americans, which has grown by the way. I think its those 51k per year people you mentioned. The debt is piling on by maintaining their vehicles, homes, having to buy new washer and dryers, hot water heater and so forth, but with the increases of health care and property taxes increasing faster than wages.
As an example i have a work truck and trailer that are both eleven years old, and the propety taxes on these two items were $80 last year. Brand new the property taxes were $105. Though the equipement had depreciated for eleven years, taxes on so called value only went down $25 a year, and i live in a low tax rate county. I've paid about $900 roughly just in property taxes over the eleven years to have something to work with. Doesn't include the taxes on all the fuel, tires, and other maintenance involved. Just think about this occuring all over the country.
There is no extra money over expenses for the average American. Necessities are being bought on credit, including food.
Max out your debt and buy precious metals, then default/declare bankruptcy.
The banksters are stuck with crap and you have an asset they can't take.
If you get a lot ofcredit cards and carefully use them, you will be issued more cards and higher credit limits. One big shopping day for gold coins and you are done. Better have these coins outside the country because you will never be allowed to take them out. And you had better be planning to move out of the country soon because the powers that be will want to talk with you.
When I'm down to my last $100 I tend to spend it more on things like food; I start craving things that I can no longer afford. It's a weird thing.
I thought they were entitled to Section 8 housing and 50 inch Sony's.
Free healthcare too.
Entitled to Section 8 housing & actually obtaining it is two different things. My local area housing has a vast waiting list, to the tune of waiting 18 months. That same housing is based not only on wages, or the lack of wages, but any assets the individual may hold, you cannot obtain Section 8 housing if you already own a home.
Some might consider the 'application for housing, EBT, or other various programs like WICK, as a rope jumping job. Your utilitiy bills are required for the previous 3 months, your pay statement for the last month, last years income tax record is required, bank statement, is your house air conditioned, what type of heating do you use & the expenses related to it must be furnished. Then after you get your application sucessfully submitted, with proper Identification, don't expect to just sit around and watch your 50" TV, because part of 'the deal' to get any of these benefits is that you have a job, or get a job, and if you don't work, then the fun really begins...
Can you say: STATE BASED SLAVERY? Because that is exactly what it is, in this cutthroat race to plow the bottom of the ditch. For an individual to obtain $158/mo. on their EBT card, that individual must work for NO WAGES, often referred to as 'volunteering', but it is required work, often unsupervised like picking trash up on the side of the road, or recycling trash. To the tune of 30 hours/month. Did you catch that yet? $158/month of groceries only, for 30 hours of 'volunteer work'. Divide 158 by 30 and you get about $5/hr. not even minimum wage, not even close. You only get a maximum of $25/month for auto expense to get to wherever the workstation is.
Now to figure out how many individuals, of late, in this country, use these USDA services, submitting to further cutthroat wages from within the USDA program system. Quite a few I would imagine, perhaps 25 SLAVES for every 10,000 of the population. {this does not account for Dept. of Correction SLAVE labor population which is a completely different sector of SLAVES}
By the way in case you forgot your history of the olden days when SLAVERY was legal, LEGALIZED SLAVERY of today also has no 'slave benefit', or safety consideration, or insurance, or retirement, or compensation of any kind other than the USDAgriculture EBT or housing benefit.
Next time you actually see one of the LEGALIZED SLAVES, don't bother to thank him for anything, rather remember that their contribution to this screwed up governmental system might be their decision to directly abstain from a different circus altogether.
wwxx
One would be surprised what they THOUGHT they needed as opposed to WHAT they needed. Hey, been there. Carlin had it right. The place is called (SLEEP AND FUCK).
well, that was the plan. that is the plan. get everyone deep in debt. remember what Dr. Faber says, "if you offer the people cheap money, they're going to take it." THAT IS THE PLAN, STAN ! steal the gold, off-shore the jobs, create the bubbles & chain people to the debt that they enticed us with. i don't blame people, how do they know the whole thing was a huge scam !
14 million is about 5% of population. If you add another 30 million illegal immigrants working as slaves, you've got roughly 15% of population in poverty.
-1 for flagrant misuse of the word "slaves".
when someone engages in a transaction willingly, and no one is forcing them to do it, they are not slaves.
If you revisit the American labor movement of late 19th century, you will discover the American workers defined wage labor as what they called "wage slavery." that's true even today.
i'm well aware that corruption of language and its mis-use happens all the time, especially by people trying to push a particular agenda.
but, there's a huge difference between one person shackling up another person in irons and making them work involuntarily, without pay, and beating/killing them if they try to escape, versus someone who offers others work voluntarily, with pay.
it is the difference between night and day.
Luckily, "The Meek shall inherit the Earth" ... cause they ain't getting anything else!
"meek" has nothing to do with being poor.
Point out some rich meek people then.
They are stringing it along, borrowing from Peter (at 25%+) to pay Paul until one day they wake up to find their bank account frozen due to a collection law suit they never knew about because of "sewer service" of process. The game ends there, chapter 7 ensues.
Sure you always need to be able to say no, I agree but damn the marketing from MasterCard is phenomenal as they will stand on their heads to get people to sign up as they want more data to sell. They bragged about it twice last year with building their new ecommerce office in NY. We are going to maximize our data so there's the side business that makes up for defaults.
They don't care and here's a company called Argus that takes all the credit card data, analyzes it, scores you and sells it to bankers and insurance companies so the value of the data flip is worth writing off defaults and they are all doing this.
http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/08/argus-analytics-produces-share-of...
Again I understand saying no but the marketing and how the credit card folks have structured their businesses too have a bit to do with this. Here's a hospital thats going to take your credit card and acxiom data and have your doctor sit and review it with you. They want the data and the behavior analytics on folks.
http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/06/oh-crap-now-hospitals-are-now-buy...
The data selling epidemic contributes to the marketing of the poor too with taking advantage. As a matter of fact, did you know that you don't have to see the doctor anymore as data brokers and other sellers that flip your data have taken care of that now and given you a diagnosis of a chronic condition. It's really getting bad and this is flawed data of course but some insurance company, banker, etc. wiill buy it and then you get secretly scored too. They don't care about the poor going into debt, they just want the data to sell and will work and coerce any way they can, expecting defaults.
http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/09/data-brokers-are-now-diagnosing.html
You touch on one facet of a very interesting stage of the evolution of our crash-bound economic system. Now data is more valuable than actual goods and services, or even actual money. The abstraction intensifies and accelerates.
Define "poor". Both of my parents were military active duty during the 80's with two kids. Great Christmas every year. Had Basics, roof over head, clothing, food, braces. Tech Seargent and a Senior Master Seargent they were. Each dies relatively young 52 and 64 respectively. Combined total credit card debt..$50K. Gues it never paid to work..even for the Military. We only had one car..at a time ever and never a new one off the lot. We fixed or learned how to repair broken household items and shopped at the thrift store. Dad always made the minimum payment on those cards every month until he died. Needless to say, those bastards probably profited greatly off the interest payments. I plan on doing the same one day...leave here, buried upside down so they can kiss my ass and good luck collecting from the dead.
All empires are based on slavery including slaving their own poor people. Military has always been one of the routes for poor people to escape extreme poverty.
They also have never been more obese and mentally lazy.
What we need is hyperinflation. That would make all of this debt go away. It would probably also lead to dictatorship and war, but that would probably happen anyway.
It's weird to say, but growing up poor was my first big advantage in life, and then getting involved in a business that failed in my early 20s, saddling me with tax debt 10x my annual income at the time has turned out to be my big break. I grew up knowing how to cook and repair what I had, and learned not to gamble money I couldn't afford to lose, including taking out loans unless I was sure the object of the loan would give me sufficient increased income to pay back the loan. Then when I had the tax lien on me, I couldn't get any credit, so I cashed every check at the bank it was drawn on, used money orders, and paid for everything with cash. As a result, by the time I got my issues sorted out, I had no debt whatsoever, affordable tastes, self-sufficiency, and a very hard-eyed view of money transactions.
I make plenty of mistakes, don't doubt that. But I've never bought anything I can't pay for. I have a price in mind and I can't be induced to exceed it. If I'm not absolutely positive I will be making more money next year, I won't borrow against that income today. My parents never taught me how to manage money; I watched them fail at it and it's worked out very well.
The real lesson I learned was that there's nobody out there with my best interests at heart; that's my job. After Hurricane Katrina, there shouldn't be anybody in America thinking there's anyone coming to help them. That shouldn't be a frightening realization, either. That should be very liberating, almost exhilarating. If nothing else, people should realize that nobody is "giving them money," or "giving them a loan." They're selling them money, in return for a lien on their future labor. People are basically turning themselves into farm animals; plugging themselves into "The Matrix" to have their life-energy harvested from them in return for the illusion of a steak. Now that money is completely abstract, and wealth is the reflection of debt, poor people have an enormous value to the economy, as a heat-sink of debt. Unlike selling your organs, of which one only has a set supply, selling one's potential future earnings is an infinite and abstract proposition.
i would say 14 million more households have learned from 2008, if you don't own anything, they can't take anything.
if your net yearly pay is $15,000.00, + entilements $8-$12,000.00, a year,+ your income tax refund, $3-$4000.00 a year, + your earned income tax rebate, $5-$12,000.00 per year, free health-care, $4-$12,000.00 per year, grossing anywhere from $30-$50,000.00 a year, (excluding cash transactions), this is why their flooding the border, (to do work nobody else will, bullshit).
they'll overnight increased their standard of living 20-50 fold and still don't have to work.
as soon as they cross the border their met with democrat party voluteers with paperwork where to go, which bank will give them an account, where to get your drivers license, which govt. agencies to go to first, and bingo your tax-payer fueled gdp rises, and zukenberg and his ilk will just build taller, and stronger gates around themselves.
me and my wife both worked over forty years, she still works, we never had any yearly gross income after taxes, (and housing, food, and energy costs), of $30-$50,000.00.
we were prudent savers into 401K's, looking back the most foolish thing we ever did, i'm draining them now, (costing me 15%-17% to do it), helping my children, grand-children out, giving them fair warning your inheiritence is what were spending, but i don't want this govt. taking 50%-80% soon down the road.
this is the facism that is needed to socialize all of america.
Almost two years ago during a television interview on Bloomberg, Harvard economist Steven Roach put a retail sales consultant in her place who was crowing about strong retail growth. Roach pointed out that after discounting for inflation growth in retail sales compared to past years is mostly an illusion.
I wish he had gone to the next step and pointed out that what little growth does exist is built on a foundation of demand from huge government deficit spending. It doesnot help that so many Americans have slipped into poverty. More on this subject in the article below.
http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2014/09/consumers-are-facing-protracted-w...