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The Death Of The American Dream In 22 Numbers
Submitted by Michael Snyder via The End of The American Dream blog,
We are the generation that gets to witness the end of the American Dream. The numbers that you are about to see tell a story. They tell a story of a once mighty economy that is dying. For decades, the rest of the planet has regarded the United States as “the land of opportunity” where almost anyone can be successful if they are willing to work hard. And when I was growing up, it seemed like almost everyone was living the American Dream. I lived on a “middle class” street and I went to a school where it seemed like almost everyone was middle class. When I was in high school, it was very rare to ever hear of a parent that was unemployed, and virtually every family that I knew had a comfortable home and more than one nice vehicle.
But now that has all changed. The “American Dream” has been transformed into a very twisted game of musical chairs. With each passing year, more people are falling out of the middle class, and most of the rest of us are scrambling really hard to keep our own places.
Something has gone horribly wrong, and yet Americans are very deeply divided when it comes to finding answers to our problems. We love to point fingers and argue with one another, and meanwhile things just continue to get even worse. The following are 22 numbers that are very strong evidence of the death of the American Dream…
#1 The Obama administration tells us that 8.69 million Americans are “officially unemployed” and that 92.90 million Americans are considered to be “not in the labor force”. That means that more than 101 million U.S. adults do not have a job right now.
#2 One recent survey discovered that 55 percent of Americans believe that the American Dream either never existed or that it no longer exists.
#3 Considering the fact that Obama is in the White House, it is somewhat surprising that 55 percent of all Republicans still believe in the American Dream, but only 33 percent of all Democrats do.
#4 After adjusting for inflation, median household income has fallen by nearly $5,000 since 2007.
#5 After adjusting for inflation, “the median wealth figure for middle-income families” fell from $78,000 in 1983 to $63,800 in 2013.
#6 At this point, 59 percent of Americans believe that “the American dream has become impossible for most people to achieve”.
#7 In 1967, 53 percent of Americans were considered to be “middle income”. But today, only 43 percent of Americans are.
#8 For each of the past six years, more businesses have closed in the United States than have opened. Prior to 2008, this had never happened before in all of U.S. history.
#9 According to the New York Times, the “typical American household” is now worth 36 percent less than it was worth a decade ago.
#10 According to one recent report, 43 million Americans currently have unpaid medical debt on their credit reports.
#11 Traditionally, owning a home has been one of the key indicators that you belong to the middle class. Unfortunately, the rate of homeownership in the U.S. has now been falling for seven years in a row.
#12 According to a survey that was conducted last year, 52 percent of all Americans cannot even afford the house that they are living in right now.
#13 While Barack Obama has been in the White House, the number of Americans on food stamps has gone from 32 million to 46 million.
#14 The number of Americans on food stamps has now exceeded the 46 million mark for 38 months in a row.
#15 Right now, more than one out of every five children in the United States is on food stamps.
#16 According to a Washington Post article published just recently, more than 50 percent of the children in U.S. public schools now come from low income homes. This is the first time that this has happened in at least 50 years.
#17 According to the Census Bureau, 65 percent of all children in the United States are living in a home that receives some form of aid from the federal government.
#18 In 2008, 53 percent of all Americans considered themselves to be “middle class”. But by 2014, only 44 percent of all Americans still considered themselves to be “middle class”.
#19 In 2008, 25 percent of all Americans in the 18 to 29-year-old age bracket considered themselves to be “lower class”. But in 2014, an astounding 49 percent of all Americans in that age range considered themselves to be “lower class”.
#20 It is hard to believe, but an astounding 53 percent of all American workers make less than $30,000 a year.
#21 According to one recent survey, 62 percent of all Americans are currently living paycheck to paycheck.
#22 According to CNN, the typical American family can only “replace 21 days of income with readily accessible funds”.
The key to the recovery of the middle class is jobs.
The truth is that without middle class jobs, it is impossible to have a middle class.
Unfortunately, more middle class jobs are being offshored, are being replaced by technology, or are being lost to a slowing economy every single day. The competition for the jobs that remain is incredibly intense. Just consider the following example…
In 2012, Eric Auld, an unemployed 26-year-old with a master’s degree in English, decided to find out what was on the other side of the black hole. He created a fake job ad as an experiment:
Administrative Assistant needed for busy Midtown office. Hours are Monday through Friday, nine to five. Job duties include: filing, copying, answering phones, sending e-mails, greeting clients, scheduling appointments. Previous experience in an office setting preferred, but will train the right candidate. This is a full-time position with health benefits. Please e-mail résumé if interested. Compensation: $12-$13 per hour.
If you have ever applied for a job like that, I offer my condolences. You have better odds at the casino. Auld received 653 responses in 24 hours. 10% of the applicants had more than 10 years of experience, and 3% of them had master’s degrees. Presumably, one of them would get the job. But what does that mean? It means that all the other experienced applicants and master’s degree holders would remain unemployed. That is about 64 experienced workers and about 19 workers with master’s degrees.
So how can we get this turned around?
How can we start to increase the number of middle class jobs in America once again?
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Long live the American dream.
It ended
So how can we get this turned around?
Get rid of the fucking government.
can we start with the "tribe' banksters?
Got a list ???
(CAAPL)
In addition to the Four Rs, the American people should be compiling a list, call it the Crimes Against the American People List (CAAPL)?? A list of known pol, crat, functionaries (funcs), and bankster criminals that they are aware of.
Oath violating and treasonous gun and badge thugs, corrupt pols and crats, thieving banksters, etc. should be placed on it. Their names, crimes, and positions should be, at a minimum, kept for future reference for accountability, trial and punishment.
When the DC US finally collapses, these lists can then be used to root out the known criminals that will think that they can hide among their victims--no "Truth and Reconciliation," and no quarter.
I update my daily. Do you?
The banksters need to repay us.
This isn't only happening to Americans, for fucks sake.
The real battle that needs fighting is that between the psychopatic oligarchs and the rest. Let's globalize that idea.
Trouble is, most of the rest are ignorant of what is happening.
People don't tend to fight things they are ignorant of.
Hmmm, I wonder why the 'education' system sucks.
You may do as you wish, or need, but I am an American, and my fight is here against the the Unconstitutional, and criminal, occupiers, and oppressors, of the American country.
They occupy here, and so I will fight, and destroy them here.
And educating the sheeple, the sleeping, and the ignorant is a full time job.
The banksters need to repay us.
So, you openly admit to having fallen for TPTBs divide and conquer techniques.
Nice one!
On the other hand, I think your heart is, at least, very close to, in the right place.
<< #5 After adjusting for inflation, “the median wealth figure for middle-income families” fell from $78,000 in 1983 to $63,800 in 2013. >>
Actually, if you remove Middle Class Gubmint workers and just look at the Middle Class private sector, the median income is woefully less then $63,800. It's more like $48,500 [or lower] now with many fewer families in the private sector Middle Class thanks to low wages, job 'layoffs' and higher costs of essential things like food and health care.
No persons with dual citizenship allowed to hold any government office or be given any security clearance, like it used to be before Chief Justice Abe Fortas had his way with the Supreme Court.
Bring Back Glass Stegall
Commodities futures only allowed to be trade by entities who can take delivery.
Fair Trade - not free trade. End NAFTA and all other "free" trade barriers, and for God's sake, do not allow this pending TPP agreement.
Campaign contributions can only be made by registered voters. No Pacs, no corporations, no unions. If you can't cast a vote, no political spending, period.
Congress to be required to put in a regular work week, with 50% of their time spent reviewing and REDUCING the laws currently in place.
All new legislation to have a 1 page introduction clearly spelling out the reason and intent of the legislation in layman's terms.
Congress to be bound by all laws that apply to citizens - no exceptions.
Just a quick start, but there is a lot more to add to this list.....gotta go to dinner.
Eliminate the Fed and make bank owners and senior management personally responsible for its debts and you dont need Glass Stegal. Never forget the Fed is Carter Glass's baby.
off topic and thread jumping ---but ----I bought items on Ebay a while ago-- the package came broken with some of the item missing-- I wrote it off--today I get an email from the seller-- on his own volition he sent me a refund-- I'm slack jawed -- call it reason No1 that I think the american dream is not dead ---It lives and will come back with a vengence when the fucking crooks and their gov't enablers are in the dirt. Thank you for your attention
There are still some decent people in the world. Unfortunately, none of them ever get into a position of power.
Think there may be a connection between those two sentences?
Indeed....plenty of work to do here. More than enough for everyone. Move Gov out the way and allow for us to find better ways to serve one another rather than the system.
First people must recognize that totalitarianism only functions via obedience--obedience of their implementers, and obedience by their victims, the people. No obedience, no totalitarianism.
Now the legs of the totalitarian governmnet, the DC US, that is now Unconstitutionally, and criminally, occupying the American country are: The banksters' fraudulent-reserve banking, the banksters' violence-puppets, big governmnet, and obedience/ignorance by the people. Remove one or more of those three legs, and their lean-to of an empire falls over.
---
First and foremost: The most powerful weapon the American people have is Rejection.
The system of fraud and theft that has been built up upon the backs of the American people is dependent upon our backs. Withdraw our backs, and the whole scheme collapses. This is our greatest weapon.
Stop Paying--Put it into food, and precious metals, etc. They stole whatever "debt money" they loaned you in the first place (fractional reserve banking) and soon you won't be able to pay them anyways, so Stop Paying.
Stop Playing--Stop being a tool for them to use, mock, and call "stupid." Stop Playing.
Stop Obeying--If they are in violation of the Constitution then they are not legitimate anyways, so Stop Obeying their unlawful dictates.
The Four Rs
Rejection: Stop Paying. Stop Playing. Stop Obeying.
Revolution: It is inevitable, so prepare, as they are.
Retribution: The guilty must answer for their crimes against the American people and the Constitution. No “truth and reconciliation,” but “trial and Retribution.”
Restoration: Restore the American people, country and Constitutional republic.
I've already begun. When will you.
The banksters need to repay us.
The problem with this is the modern day NKVD (israeli trained police officers) are going to be rounding up the masses and executing them for not complying.
It's coming folks, it's time to leave the USA!
You are forgetting, that you are one of over 300 million.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6b70TUbdfs
And as of 2009:(How many more 6 years later?!)
By … 2009, the estimated total number of firearms available to civilians in the United States had increased to approximately 310 million: 114 million handguns, 110 million rifles, and 86 million shotguns(36). Per capita, the civilian gun stock has roughly doubled since 1968, from one gun per every two persons to one gun per person… http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/citation/quotes/6676
And yes they have tanks, and drones, and such, but all of those are weapon SYSTEMS that are supported by product, and labor, stolen from us, and rely on other vulnerable systems as well. Withdraw our backs, and destroy the support systems of their systems, and they a won't be so mighty.
The banksters need to repay us.
Paradoxically, their soldiers rely on us to feed, clothe, supply, and clothe them, making our first weapon, "NO."
who would down vote this? trolls
Some folks are living the american Nightmare
A few folks aren't living the American Nightmare
It's unbelievable that many experienced and educated people applied for such a low-paying, albeit phony, job. One cannot even afford a mortgage on a house on those wages, unless you're in a ghetto neighborhood at the end of the airport runway.
Lots of millenials still living at moms house, and lots of grown middle-aged adults roommating in a house is the new norm.
The days of bread winner dad working 8 to 5, stay at home mom doing housework and five children in a house are so 1950s dude.
1947 until the recession of 1958 was the absolute pinnacle in economic development for middle class America. Unfortunately, commentators like Snyder use the peak of the 1950s as a baseline as opposed to a peak which anthropologically speaking it is. The middle class in the 1950s America lived better than royalty did centuries earlier. It was a result of war production and coming out unscathed after global war. Europe was decimated by WWII, The third world was irrelevant at the time, and the United States was the only game on the global stage at the time.
Globalization opened up the third world, jobs offshored, America turned into a global police force which costs trillions in borrowed money to finance, and after being neutered by music, films, and video games, Americans are uncompetitive in the working world.
It's becoming more obvious by the day, especially after daily articles on the Drudge Report on the rise of A.I. that economics and the working world are quickly becoming antiquated and obsolete.
Landing a job will be like winning the lottery because most work can and will be automated. The agrarian age is over. The industrial age is over. We are now in the information age, where information has more value to it than tangible goods. That's the world we are in and we have a political system that is stuck in the 18th Century. We debate economic topics such as fascism vs communism, capitalism vs. communism, capitalism vs. socialism, etc which are 19th century horrendously outdated arguments. We also have labor, management, work ethic, and other social issues which nearing their sunset.
We got to face the fact that this is 2015. Whining about unemployment figures, and lack of jobs is just the cherry on top of a spoiled cake. The whole economic system is done and nearing its final days. What needs to be the first and foremost topic on Zero Hedge is the new system we need to transition into. A lot of commentors want to return back to the late 1800s model of lassiez-faire capitalism, which is absurd because the industrial age is OVER. We live in an information age so we need a brand new model to accomodate this new age.
Whining about minimum wage and how a robo-burger flipper will replaced zit faced college kids shouldn't be feared. The robo burger flipper is 20 years too late, that technology should have came out when the minimum wage was increased to $5.25 an hour back in the mid-90s but it didn't.
The front and center debate of the 21st century is what to do about economics with a world without work, and how to pay for items that will be cheap if machines make it readily.
Right now it is free to breathe oxygen, and exhale carbon dioxide. There are derivative scam artists like Ken Lay and Al Gore who would love to change that, and a bunch of fellow traveller scientists who would tag along, but still it costs nothing to breathe. Once everything is mechanized food, water, shelter, and basic medical care will be as free as the air you breathe and it should be. This isn't some socialist utopia pipe dream that right-libertarians are quick to dismiss, conveniently on the world wide web lol, but this is the future reality. They peddle doomsday SHTF scenarios because they can't envision a world where technical problems are solved technically instead of politically through outmoded systems.
The right-libertarian spreads their ideas globally in seconds on the world wide web which would have been impossible when I was a kid as that technology didn't exist back then, yet they don't see a world where 30 years from now there will be game changers.
I'm a lot more optimistic than most about the role of technology, but these arguments about minimum wage, unemployment, central banking, work ethic, "socialism", "handouts", etc. are re-arranging deck furniture on a sinking titanic and beyond futile. Then again today's establishment are mostly baby-boomers who generally have a poor understanding of cybernetics and see the world through their American 1950s peak prosperity upbringing, thinking that economic fluke was a sustainable reality.
The real debate is that our problems are psychological and technical.
Economics and politics don't work because they are counter-productive and worse than useless. Politics is mudslinging theater and yesmen shills for big business, and economics are just 1s and 0s on a screen where the end result is 80 people own more wealth than the bottom 3,000,000,000 people. It's beyond unsustainable and it needs to go.
Most people are psychologically broken, and that problem is only exacerbated by Big Pharma shrinks and spinner rack rubbish at the checkout stands. People need to be aware that thoughts are things, and you are what you think about.
Most problems like environmental destruction, starvation, poor access to medical care just to name a few are technical problems. Engineers, doctors, farmers, you know real experts can do a much better job fixing these ills than any useless politician could, and definitely more than a greedy banker could ever, as the bankers are the problems.
The future is ours. I could whine about how we don't live a 1950s lifestyle anymore, but I'd rather utilize technology to solve problems so all 7 billion of the planet's inhabitants can have a good life on this spinning rock.
I appreciate your optimism and wish I shared it.
I agree that we are at an ending, but what begins remains to be seen.
I don't have patience for video, but this one is worth watching and really soaking in. AI, or something as good as, is much closer than I had thought. Jeremy Howard says that not only will service jobs be eliminated, so will most skilled information type jobs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4kyRyKyOpo
The idea that everything will just be as free as breathing is lovely, but hard to fathom. If the profit motive is removed why would current owners of capital hand it over? Pure sweet altruism?
And past that, assuming we make this transition to a post-work world will the majority of people be able to mentally cope? Already there is the theory that our current reality isn't satisfying. Will we become just lumps in front of screens?
http://www.amazon.com/Reality-Broken-Games-Better-Change/dp/145583291X#
As Radical Marijuana has posted we seem to be headed for peak everything. Interesting times...
Isn't one of the rules of fight club,
"commenters ranting longer than the original article get automatic downvotes."?
Submit an an article to the Tylers and see if they will publish it
If not, maybe there is a reason.
or
Maybe some folks just need to launch their own webpage.
Not saying it wasn't well thought out and of some merit, but i'm thinking the entire thing could be boiled down to
"the 1950s were a once in a multi milenal occurance for a middle class. we are ALL heading back to the global plantation" Sure, some future technology will make life better in the process, but make no mistake we are the serfs again bend over an take it."
Or as Carlin Said "It a big club and you ain't in it"
The rest was just showing off.
They might like that shit at Mensa, but this is Fight Club.
The main reason there are 7 bill is the need for more people to fund the greed of the criminal parasites that have somehow taken control of things.
I'm not advocating government getting into population control, or anything else, for that matter. Everything government touches turns to rat shit.
The earth is well capable of supporting 7 billion, but there's a trade off. There's only so much stuff. That many people can't all own what most North Americans 'own'.
You can be happy without 'owning' a house or a car. Without television, credit card or a cell phone.
I've never been happier, having ditched most of the above (Never owned a cell phone, so didn't have to ditch it)
In 1950 there were only 2.5 billion examples of upright hairless apes.
these kids would make you proud
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/10/23/240278034/soylent-an-offbeat...
http://www.soylent.me/
Obamacare: Gateway to the American Nightmare.
I guess I really don't understand what the American Dream really is any more. Today it seems like it is to buy a McMansion and stuff your garage with useless Chinese made crap. I always thought it was freedom to pursue your dream without oppressive government intervention and having elected leaders who are representative to local need and securing national defense. None of which is present today.
I guess I am just adrift. A woman without a country. Living in a land that has lost its heart and soul that thinks it can replace this with shiny trinkets.
I really need to put away the scotch now but I find that very difficult, sadly.
Miffed
Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/federal-ban-body-armor-proposed-congres...
Washington, D.C. – A new piece of legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives, H. R. 378, labeled the Responsible Body Armor Possession Act, which if enacted would deprive law abiding citizens of another means of self defense.
The legislation, forwarded by Rep. Mike Honda, would ban citizens from ownership of enhanced body armor, defined as “body armor, including a helmet or shield, the ballistic resistance of which meets or exceeds the ballistic performance of Type III armor, determined using National Institute of Justice Standard-0101.06” in the bill.
Level III and higher body armor can defeat most common rifle ammunition.
The body armor in question has a sole purpose of protecting the wearer from potential serious injury or death from being shot.
If passed, this bill would usurp people’s ability to own a truly defensive form of protection, with penalties for possession/ownership ranging from fines to jail time or both.
In his press release, Rep. Honda states:
Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/federal-ban-body-armor-proposed-congres... http://thefreethoughtproject.com/federal-ban-body-armor-proposed-congres... Have a nice day
The American Dream? Remember, dreams have to end and you eventually wake up to see harsh reality. In this case, New World Order luminaries like George Soros and Bill Gates fighting for a return to feudal times, when you work until you die because there are no more real pensions and jobs don'tpay enough wages for you to save up a nestegg anymore. Better than in the UK, where pedophile rapist Lord Brittan used his Home Secretary job to protect his monstrous associates. Unless we find out that AG Eric Holder is doing likewise.
Leon Brittan, early1980s
"The American Dream? Remember, dreams have to end and you eventually wake up to see harsh reality."
Some will wake up confused, and ready to cry. While others will wake up pissed, and ready to fight.
"Pedophilia" is just another one of their crimes on a long list of crimes. Too bad the guillotines will only get one go at each of them.
The banksters need to repay us.
My dad told me the other day that he was reminded of my general rule of governmnet #2, "Government always accomplishes the opposite of the stated goal. Always," while reading about the pedophilia scandal in the UK. He says that, "They have been cracking down on pedophilia for years, and yet they themselves were the biggest purveyors of pedophilia around." And there you go.
A dream can never live or die. The American dream never existed in the first place.
Yes we are.
Forward!
Clearly, the author of this piece needs to spend more time listening to NPR. Just yesterday, in 5 minutes, I heard how the economy was 'back, unemployment was the lowest in many years, the stock market was up, housing up, gas down and that there is no inflation. It was like a 1984 audio news segment right from the bowels of Orwell's imagination.
It's fucking great and only losers and conspiracy theorists don't think so -- paraphrased NPR report.
I read it as "losers"= those not working in government or protected monopolies. I was excited about the recovered economy, no inflation, and jobs jobs joobs. Then I realized I am one of NPR's 'losers'.
America? FUCK YEAH!
I have stopped listening to some of those NPR folks who seemed to be delusional. They seldom ask tough questions any more and some have bought 100% into the MSM and Barry BS. That "everything is great" stuff makes my butt twitch such as one host saying the low oil price was "undoubtedly good." True, it's good for some but horribly painful for others so why not discuss both sides of the issue?
There's a couple there who are still great journalists but I suspect they are on borrowed time when management hears them ask hard-ball questions of guests instead of the pre-written propaganda from the top.
NPR is falling into the trap of, "When everyone thinks alike, no one is thinking."
wrong numbers....banker bonuses on wall street at record and unemployment and wages in Washington at all time records....
the end? no way.. it's just The New Normal Bitches!
Hey Snyder... Shouldn't you be at TEMPLE right about now instead of regurgitating this doom porn on a Friday Night?
Don't you have an arson planned for tonight?
Go the fuck away.
Assuming you're the resident expert, why not enthrall us all with your PERSONAL 'AD in 22 Numbers'?
<== The Chancellor, Secretary & paid Propaganda Praetorians reply
And NO... I do not have an arson planned tonight, nor have EVER contemplated arson in my life.
What could possibly compel the mind of a reasonable person such as your yourself to reach those parameters Mr. Chancellor?
~~~
Chancellor: Wordsworth, Romney, Field Investigation Finding Obsolescence. Do you know why you're here Mr.Wordsworth?
Wordsworth: Yes sir...
Chancellor: I'd ask you to speak up a little if you will, Mr.Wordsworth.
Wordsworth: Yes, sir, I know why I'm here....
Chancellor: You've been under investigation, Mr.Wordsworth for the mandatory period of 1 year and 11 months, you are found to be obsolete. The purpose of this hearing to make a finding in the matter and make a sentence accordingly. Do you understand?
When you use so many words, it makes your words worth less.
No, I didn't read it all.
Yes, I junked you anyway.
Well howz this suit you?
Answer to author's question: END THE FED
FFS I gotta read & listen to this same bullshit 24/7 yet everyone wants to tiptoe around the real answers & solutions because somebodys feelings might get hurt.
I guess I better go over & see who Krieger is blaming things on now in the other thread.
Hope and Change.. We got the change.. 2 dimes to rub together and a little hope
8000 to 10,000 for Super Bowl tickets. Stick a fork in this third world shit hole to be
Godamn, maybe I shouldn't have turned down those free tickets from a client.
Team owner perks.
If you paid me $8000 - $10,000 to go to the Superbowl, I might consider going!
The Stupor Bowl is an attraction that the big ballers just cant' resist.
I agree with this and believe I have lived through the golden age of America. It's all down hill since 2000.
So many questions, Mike. But just spew some more polemic so that everyone is paralyzed with inaction, unable to soak in all the calamity.
I am Chumbawamba.
By all means, type into your browser www.endoftheamericandream.com and ask him the questions. It's highly likely he'll answer. Please give us the name you'll be posting under. I'd like to see what questions you have.
Times are changing and there is a new generation of wise citizens who don't want a mortgage and don't give a shit about what the previous generation said was their dream.
Good article regarding Japanese but the same is true around the world --
The Satori Generation
https://www.adbusters.org/magazine/113/satori-generation.html
Interesting. "Gotta move forward."
When 2008 hit what I remember was the collapse in mail, collapse in garbage collection and collapse in gasoline usage.
I especially remember driving into LA and there being almost zero traffic.
The last one recovered. Did make me "Stevie Wonder" though.
The other three have never recovered.
Nothing like it happened even in the Great Depression.
Apparently 2008 is only catching up to some folks in 2014/15.
Still.....the orders remain the same on Wall Street...."start buying/keep buying."
"Sanctions on Russia" is not an excuse.
But we are becoming the socialists dream country. "Free" health care (that costs middle class people tens of thousands of dollars per year). "Free" food (If one chooses not to be a productive member of society). "Free" housing... "Free" Obamaphones... "Free"... "Free"... "Free"...
Just keep voting for your "free" stuff and see where it eventually gets you.
You mean like the "Free" money that the Fed injected into the global markets for years and years, at a burn rate of anywhere between $30Bn and $70Bn per MONTH, for a total of somewhere around four TRILLION dollars, that all went into the pockets of multi-millionaires and billionaire banksters? Or are you complaining about the relatively tiny pittance the .gov spends on miserly miniscule token payouts like food stamps?
Yes, some people say that government spending of $3 TRILLION per year on wealth transfer programs is miniscule.
Have you ever considered taking a basic math course?
I consider $133.07 for a MONTH'S worth of groceries for a person to be miniscule, yes. That works out to about $4.43 per day for food. Oh yes, I'm quite sure a person can eat healthy food on a budget of $4.43 per day. It's just too bad that the corporatist bastards who administer that program skim a nice chunk off of the top, amazing how somehow some corporation always manages to get in-between the money and the people getting the benefits.
I see. You have a reading comprehension problem as well. Next...
No, I think he is pointing out that the fish rots from the head down. Leadership sets the example for the masses to follow.
Will you please start paying attention. You are bitching about food and phones while ignoring the greatest con in history. Literally, since 2008 $23 trillion of corporate and financial services industry debt (private debt) was heaped upon public balance sheets. Taking private debts and socializing them. Is that the socialism you are referring to?
Thank you! That is exactly the point I'm trying to make. Well stated.
That's not socialism, it's theft.
#18 In 2008, 53 percent of all Americans considered themselves to be “middle class”. But by 2014, only 44 percent of all Americans still considered themselves to be “middle class”.
I'm aspiring to be Low Class, once that threshold is reached then I'm shootin' for No Class. Settin' the bar low and all that.
Although Dear Leader Obama is wealthy... but low class.
If there is any correlation between 'money' and 'class' it goes something along the lines of 'the more you have of one, the less you have of the other'.
Some exceptions do apply, at the lower income end.
You're a very bad Tax Donkey.
Now get to work and maximize your earnings right now! Because America FUCK YEAH!
it ended? bullshit. the country was pushed & it's citizens looted by big gov't & a central bank that was started in 1913 & issues debt-based money created out of thin air. REPEAT AFTER ME : the dollar is not real money !
http://bonnerandpartners.com/repeat-dollar-real-money/
Dollar bills, silver certificates, were real money. They could be exchanged
for silver dollars until a few months after JFK was murdered.
For me the American Dream ended when the US military started pumping flaming jellied gasoline on Vietnamese women in children in the late 70's.
For the American middle class the American Dream ended when America won the Cold War it had fought against communism for 70 years.
America's great bulwark against communism was a large and well-to-do middle class and when the cold war was over.... well, need I say more?
The American Dream is still in tact. However, you need a net worth of moderate eight figures to dream it.
60's, not 70's, but yes, I get your points.
Many people outside the country know you can game the system by collecting welfare, a free education, free rent and healthcare as well as food stamps.
It's gone from respecting the USA to abusing it.
Wall Street is doing it with taxpayer bailouts.
It goes on until it fails.
+1000, excellent post. Can't add a thing to it.
The road won't go on forever, and the party will end...as Sonny found out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eN3BlPIwg2U
Bye Bye Miss American....
obvious answer to the question:
universal basic income for meaningful "work" + direct voting over tax and resource redistribution policies
name a better idea junkers...
10% of the applicants had more than 10 years of experience, and 3% of them had master’s degrees. Presumably, one of them would get the job.
Uh, no.
The employer would take this as a lever to offer the job to one of the less experienced, less educated, and a bit desperate (but no too much!) applicants for $11 per hour.
Or instead even better at the offered rate but doing 29.5 weekly hours without health benefits.
Russia is the land of a thousand dreams. Disaffected Americans should proceed there forthwith and embrace their new comrades, lower standard of living, shorter lifespan, etc.
Life in Russia is awesome!
There are plenty of VERY comfortably-off ex. pats in Russia, so as for the land of a thousand dreams - you are actually right. Shorter lifespan? Met many, many octagenarians and older during many visits (including visits to "non-Tourism" industrial towns / cities). Standard of living was perfectly comfortable, even "Out in the Sticks" (unlike Kiev - where the levels of dilapidation prior to the "troubles" were already very substantial, 15 years ago).
So, life in Russia IS pretty awesome, especially if you wish to travel, and have an interest in scenery. Russians certainly are different, but in a very interesting (and non-confrontational) way.
the American Dream ended in 1913
Single parent homes are a huge problem in this country.
I sometimes wonder if there just isn't jobs for the mediocre anymore. Im an engineer. Not a particularly talented or ambitious one. I'm more than proficient though, and apparently, even those are in short supply. My wife is a nurse. She makes more than the median household income before I even chip in my much heftier salary.
These are not special jobs. A little bit of math aptitude is necessary to become an engineer, an ability to stomach bodily fluids all over the place if you're a nurse, but neither are hard to become. My job is a bit more senior level, but even low level engineers make plenty of money.
While we certainly don't feel we are living the American Dream with a special needs kids and a mountain of debt from when we were idiots, we almost certainly are better off than these poor bastards making 30K a year.
I dropped out of college once for a couple years while I was trying to figure out what I really wanted to do. I was a much more motivated person then. I worked extra hours for free as a shift manager in retail. I excelled in what I did there. And I realized that no one above me was taking me very seriously because I didn't have a degree (or tits if I was being judged by my immediate boss). I was making an awesome 24,000 a year and that was 2005. I had an epiphany one day while stocking shelves - "I don't have to do this job". It was a simple thought, but one that you don't have often when you get stuck in a certain way of living. I went back to my school the next week and re-enrolled.
And now I'm here. it may be different for someone like myself because I have a very high IQ. As said before, it's the mediocre, whom lack both the intelligence and the drive to do anything better than manual labor, are probably the ones getting left behind today. As crazy and paranoid as some of you are on here, there aren't a lot of low IQ people. You might not empathize with the plight of the stupid if you don't interact with them on a regular basis.
Not everyone can be an engineer, or a doctor, or a lawyer, or a investment banker even if they had the aptitude. There just isn't enough compensation to go around. At the end of the day, there just aren't enough jobs available for people that can't do more than follow instructions. That's what robots are for.
Alittle bit of math? Try high level math....most people, especially American kids are NOT getting STEM degrees.
I agree with the low IQ people statement tohugh, there are lots of smart people out there but they have no common sense and lack critical thinking skills, as crazy as that sounds.
Ok i've been thinking about this post for a long time, this seems like the right time. Friday night and three glasses of wine. I have no health insurance. I have no retirement plan. I'm 61 years old. I work an averege of 60 hours a week doing what I enjoy. Total blue collar.
What I do have is five kids who I taught the Golden Rule. They are all successful (i won't brag or tell you exactly in what, but they all have made fine livings creating products or services or artistic endevours that you or your family have used). Two are multi millionaires. I did not teach religion to them, just the golden rule.
I also taught them to be fucking nice people, to have integrity, not to expect anything for free, to have good manners, to be funny, to eat right, not to trust the criminals running our country, and to fucking read.
I'm writing this because I love reading Zero Hedge. I have learned a lot from the articles and I have learned even more from the comments.
My kids are all in their 20's and 30's. They know how fucked this country is. They still have managed to have great lives and have made me very proud for who they are.
They are all self made and they all acknowledge me for being a good father, we have no bullshit between us.
So here is my question: How did my kids manage to do this, was it luck that I'm 5 for 5?
My opinion on this is: young people will adapt to whatever the world presents them, if you can teach them how to be good humans and have integrity and compassion for others, they can have good lives and see throug the bullshit.
Hopefully they will fight to restore some integrity to this country.
Most of the suffering in this country is due to a lack of integrity.
Mobtown, way to go. Not many have your skills, maybe you should foster some kids.
"You have better odds at the casino. Auld received 653 responses in 24 hours. 10% of the applicants had more than 10 years of experience, and 3% of them had master’s degrees. Presumably, one of them"
Next time you hear about some sick, twisted, vicious action by a low level corporate employee, government clerk or military flunky think about this article, and what power it gives over those desperate to keep a job.
Well, at least it's not serious.
Start a business, rather than wait for one to 'employ' you. Working for others is a fools paradise.
Great idea. Have you ever done this? The amount of bureaucracy can be astounding even for the simplest ideas.
Of course I have, the paper work is not that bad, and their are many service people who will sort that out fairly quickly and easily. The biggest hurdle is when you want to grow to find smart capable employees and make enough to pay them enough so they'll do a good job and make you more money. That's much more difficult to do.
The number one thing to know in small business is to never do Govt contracts for any reason no matter how they entice you to bid or quote, as those cunt Govt departments know that if they fuck you around for six to nine months and delay paying you they can send you broke, and then it's far easier for them to concoct some BS story of lies and false claims and smears, to try to not pay you out, at all. I've seen Govts do that to small businesses, again, and again, and again.
It's why I have no hesitation fucking Govts around as much as humanly possible, and to always seriously delay paying them, and resist doing any thing they say/demand. I strongly suggest others do same, for if you play their game their ways, a Govt department will always opt to destroy a small business, if presnted with the opportunity to do so.
That's the one thing Govt departments excel at.
So how can we get this turned around?
How can we start to increase the number of middle class jobs in America once again?
undo most of what the Government has done for the last 25-30 years to kill them
it was deliberate in many cases, or unintended stupidity in others - see NAFTA, various EPA regulations, not enforcing immigration laws, the punishing progressive tax code (hello obamacare according to Mr Roberts) as examples and a good start in my opinion at things to overturn
unleash American inginuity by removing the Government boots off the necks of its citizenry
here is a good read on the topic with plenty of pretty graphs and good sources. i disagree with the author, but some of the data is super interestiing
The Digital Age Is Destroying The US Middle Class And There's Little Hope For Reversing The Cycle
http://www.businessinsider.com/tech-is-destroying-the-us-middle-class-20...
dont underestimate education either. this country has a serious problem in cranking out skillless dumbasses year after year after year. the system is not anywhere it should be for 2015. describing it as antiquated doesnt do it justice
That would be by having 38 state legislatures pass a Constitutional amendment (under Article V, a state run Constitutional Convention) that either eliminates the Federal government or restricts it to the point that it can no longer continue to do the damage that it has in the last 100 years. Thank you George Mason for thinking ahead during the original Constitutional Convention.
the middle class is NOT coming back
it was destroyed deliberately thanks to neo-bolshevik policys.
im jewish, so ill be spared but the rest of you are going to get slaughtered
Watch the Gray State Documentary.
The solution to the the Law of Diminishing Returns and the Law of Large Numbers is to reduce numbers or use technology to provide increased returns. With both laws impinging on all economies throughout the World the chance of one or more economies imploding will likely start a cascade of economic implosions not unlike WTC 1 & 2 when they were imploded via controled demolition. The shitstorm of debris will be similar as well, but when the economy finally blows for good the ripple effects will be beyond our capacity to comprehend the fallout when all is said and done. When Titanic sank to the bottom of the ocean people sat back in amazement and could not believe it happened. The economy and Economics proper is our contemporary collective Titanic disaster of Epic proportion and it is currently sinking into the bottomless pit of economic Hell as we write here. There was no solution for the Titanic back then and there is no solution for our Economic Titantic today.
How can this be turned around?
ELIMINATE ALL GOVERNMENT.
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An individual has to be nuts to start a small business today in the USSA. Small business is where jobs come from. Hence the current situation.
Call it collectivism 101. Only losers want it, and the past decade more and more non-losers have decided not to help keep the racket going.
So what do we replace government with? You can't just pull the whole thing. Remember, government is responsible for: Roads, quality control, parks, all civil services, national defense, preservation of the land, etc... etc... etc...
If there were a viable solution in mind, I would have no problems with this at all. So, what are some solutions?
Edit: Also, how would that change what free market capitalism is ultimately going to do. Pyramid towards the top. Especially with all the mega-corps already spread all over. What would stop the companies with the most money from hostile takeovers of every smaller company? Considering they are already working with tons of restrictions, how do you think it would be if all the people with all the money suddenly didn't have rules anymore? I think this would accelerate the issue even faster and eventually lead to a "singularity" of wealth. Right now, the government is slowing that down, granted, they can't stop (nor could we, should the government be disbanded) it either way. Money rules all no matter how you slice it.
NO GOVERNMENT... PERIOD.
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However, do understand the nature of government. You could take what is currently called "government", and simply make all its programs "by subscription", and presto-chango... non-government.
Of course, there are a few aspects of government that would need to vanish, like invading and/or bombing people in other parts of the world, but most programs could remain. Except for the crucial change.
Nobody needs to sign up or pay for any program. No exceptions. And also, none of the programs could be jiggered to deny anyone basic liberty to life and act on the planet. And so, people can travel wherever they wish... you can't make a "road program" that prohibits people from "travel", just because someone happened to want asphault on the ground, and paid to lay some.
Big companies can only exist because they get enormous special treatment and advantages from government. Note that once government vanishes, so do corporations. Only humans exist (both corporations and government are pure fictions, and even recognized as such in fundamental law as "fictitious entities"), and so, all "businesses are just one+ human making and/or selling products". Period.
Also note that without government, there would be no "patents", a totally unjustified fictional pile of nonsense created by government FOR the benefit of huge corporations. To claim that humans cannot take advantage of their knowledge to survive and prosper is utterly insane, anti-human, and just... well... insane! Only an atrocity like "government" could possibly imagine such a perversion.
It is stunning that humans can't comprehend the simplest of ideas.
If you create (produce) something of value, you get to consume it or trade it. That is your "protection", as if you need any. You have ALL the public knowledge from ALL of history to figure out efficient ways to produce goods and goodies, and what? You say you can't figure out how to produce ANYTHING? Seriously? You have that little confidence in yourself?
It is government that leads to the singularity of wealth. Why do you think the wealthy are people who fund politicians and hire lobbyists? You think that's a coincidence? Seriously?
I acknowledge that it may be difficult to imagine a world as different as the world would be without governments and corporations and the endless regulations created to thwart SMALL business. But if you ever do, you'll realize you have nothing to worry about.
The only one I wonder about is # 1.
#1 The Obama administration tells us that 8.69 million Americans are “officially unemployed” and that 92.90 million Americans are considered to be “not in the labor force”. That means that more than 101 million U.S. adults do not have a job right now.
101 million adults? That's roughly 30% of the US population. I've seen this figure floating around on other sites. It don't sound right. There's gotta be some kind of age categories that go with that figure. But if it's true, then things are even worse than I thought, and I already thought things were generally shitty.
The figures are correct, for once.
There are 4.2 million children per each age cohort. Let's be generous and extend that to age 25. 105 million students and children. 101 million retired, sick, vets, elderly, expats, permanently unemployed, sleeping in mom's basement, etc. 206 million. Population is 310-335 million.
104 to 129 million in the work force. Exactly as one would expect.
Out of those 104 to 129 million in the work force.
how many are Public servants? incl Army, Police, Firemen, Hospitals, etc?
How many are working for minimum wage?
How many are about to lose their jobs due to the country slowly being gutted and off-shored?
How many are about to take their retirement?
USA! USA! USA! We are almost back to normal, another few years...
No one can see the future because all of the events have not yet converged and come to a culmination. Difficulties are everywhere. Some places have become explosive. Everyone is conscious of terrorism, but other evils are kept hidden from view, especially the weaknesses in the economic systems. Those trying to resist and confront these evils use only human means, totally unaware of the supernatural powers that are the true forces behind the evils.
Such is the secular age which has rejected belief both in the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Darkness. Modern man cannot grasp the true source of these evils because he does not even believe that they exist. He cannot reach the only power that can save him because he has long ago set his religious faith aside, and proclaimed his world as “secular”. I stand on the world’s battlefield and watch this tide of destruction and collapse. I know exactly where it is going to happen next and what will be evil’s newest victories.
I will once again speak of what is to happen. My previous words have already been fulfilled. The American withdrawal has speeded up the timetable of terrorism. The weak response in the Ukraine has emboldened Putin. The failure to confront deficits has weakened economic systems. China sees its opportunity for new aggressions. I call all of these external problems. The real difficulty is secularism. Modern man has cut himself off from God’s help.
This is my moment. As the Woman Clothed With the Sun, I will come upon the world stage, just as the heavenly Father has decided. I will move up my timetable also. Then the battle will begin.
http://www.locutions.org/2015/01/10-the-person-with-the-key/
The only people who care about words like 'secular' are dippy loons pumping failed goat-herder world-views of the imaginary proscribed reality in some nasty old book filled to the gills with recipes for control-freaks who then parade around as 'spiritual' and 'righteous'.
If your religion or god worked as advertised no one would be 'secular'. QED
"You can't achieve a dream by dreaming." - Rory Miller's Hard Truth #5
One single word can outline the cause of all the problems:
Population.
Stop having kids. Please, for the love of god.
http://www.naturalnews.com/048440_killer_whales_Fukushima_radiation_exti...
The "dream" is becoming cloudy.
Once you poision the oceans, it's pretty much game over. Que the GE we bring good thing to live line dancing propaganda vid. (commercial)