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One Last Look At The Real Economy Before It Implodes - Part 2
Submitted by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.com,
Consumer spending in the U.S. accounts for approximately 70 percent of gross domestic product, though it is important to note that the manner in which “official” GDP is calculated is highly inaccurate. For example, all government money used within the Medicare coverage system to pay for “consumer health demands,” as well as the now flailing Obamacare socialized welfare program, are counted toward GDP, despite the fact that such capital is created from thin air by the Federal Reserve and also generates debt for the average taxpayer. Government debt creation does not beget successful domestic production. If that was a reality, then all socialist and communist countries (same thing) would be wildly enriched today. This is simply not the case.
That said, the swift decline in manufacturing jobs in the U.S. over the past two decades, including a considerable 33 percent overall decline in manufacturing jobs from 2001 to 2010, leaves only the consumer and service sectors as the primary areas of employment and “production.” The service sector provides about three out of every four jobs available in America, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The truth is that America actually produces very little that is tangible beyond Big Macs, pharmaceuticals and the occasional overpriced fighter jet that doesn’t function correctly and is filled with Chinese parts. All three will kill you at varying degrees of speed...
In the first part of this article series, I discussed the true state of global demand, along with the unstable situation within numerous indicators from exports to retail. Swiftly falling global demand for raw materials as well as consumer goods is an undeniable reality. This is a distinct problem in terms of the U.S., which has been, up until recently, the primary consumption driver for much of the world. As I plan to show, U.S. demand is about to fall even further into the abyss as real unemployment and personal debt take their toll.
Now, it is probably important to address the lies presented in the mainstream and by the BLS in terms of unemployment statistics because even after years of alternative analysts debunking establishment stats and how they are calculated, we STILL end up hearing the same arguments parroted by disinformation agents and unwitting useful idiots.
Such people continue to parade around boasting about the latest BLS reports on job creation claiming that “all is well” because the unemployment rate has dropped to 5.5% and all other talk to the contrary is “doom and gloom.” So, once again, I must relate the fact that the current BLS numbers are an utter sham.
Official unemployment stats are arrived at through disingenuous methods of calculation that were introduced in the 1990s, just before the bursting of the dot com bubble; the introduction of artificially low interest rates, which created the derivatives crisis; and the steady derailment of the U.S. financial system, which has occurred ever since.
So who is actually counted as employed and who is NOT counted as employed by the BLS?
Of the 102 million working-age Americans without work today, only 8.7 million are counted by the BLS as unemployed. Out of all working-age Americans, over 92 million are without jobs and are not counted by the BLS as unemployed. Why?
Well, if you ever read establishment-leaning propaganda websites like Factcheck or Poltifact, the argument is essentially that these 92 million Americans are not counted because they “refuse to participate,” not because they can’t find adequate employment and not because the government is misrepresenting the numbers. Yes, that’s right, 92 million Americans don’t count because they clearly must not want work.
So, first, I would ask how it is that the BLS comes to the conclusion that nearly one-third of the U.S. population does not want to work? Is it through its so called “household surveys?” Surveys, just like public polls, can be easily manipulated to affirm any particular bias merely by changing how questions are phrased. I would certainly love to see the raw data from such polls before the BLS adds its own spin.
Second, even if such claims were true and tens of millions of Americans did not want to work, why would this matter? Shouldn’t they still be counted as unemployed in order to draw the most accurate picture of our economic situation? Wouldn’t 92 million Americans apparently on a long-term labor and productivity strike have a severe negative effect on real GDP? And obviously, they must be surviving somehow. Wouldn’t 92 million people eventually require government assistance through food stamps and welfare? Does none of this matter to the BLS in terms of the overall economic picture?
Third, if the assertion is that 92 million people do not want jobs, then by extension the BLS would have to show that those millions of people could in fact get a job if they simply tried. Where are these tens of millions of jobs that Americans are refusing to apply for and what do they pay?
Fourth, a common misrepresentation attached to the claim of “refusal to participate” is that many of these Americans are teens in school (16 to 18) and possible “retirees” (55 or older). The BLS and the mainstream media simply assume these people do not want a job and should not be counted as unemployed. Of course, the BLS includes such people in its stats when they DO have jobs. So, according to the BLS, if you are 16 or 55 or 65 and you have a job, then you count. If you are 16 or 55 or 65 and don’t have a job, then you don’t count. See how that works?
Fifth, millions of Americans are losing long-term unemployment benefits every quarter and are being removed from BLS statistics. Many of them are not teens or retirees. These are average-working-age adults who now no longer have any real launch pad to progress in their career or life, and who should be fully motivated to obtain work if jobs are so readily available. Again, where are these jobs that said prime-working-age people refuse to accept?
The BLS also invariably discounts the number of working-age Americans who enter the market as well when boasting of jobs created to the public. Job growth numbers do not weigh the number of new participants each month with the number of supposed jobs made available, thus creating a misconception about how many new jobs are actually needed to keep the economy functional.
Another important factor to observe in government labor statistics is the issue of part-time work. When the BLS releases its monthly stats on unemployment, it does not widely promote or discuss the fact that 18 percent to 20 percent of those labeled “employed” are considered “part-time employed.” The BLS defines “part-time employed” as anyone who works 1 to 34 hours per week. Yes, if you work one hour per week, you have helped to bring down the overall unemployment rate of the U.S. to a fantastic 5.5 percent, even though you likely have zero ability to support yourself financially, let alone a family.
What does the 5.5 percent unemployment number actually represent on a fundamental level where the real world actually matters rather than the world of hypothetical calculations? Not a damn thing. The number is absolutely and unequivocally meaningless.
If one were to calculate unemployment using pre-1990s methods, as websites like Shadowstats.com do, counting U-6 measurements as well as the underemployed, you would come up with a U.S. jobless rate closer to 23 percent.
Many of those workers in the service sector on the higher end of the part-time and full-time spectrum still cannot support themselves adequately due to falling wages, rising prices and growing debt obligations, which brings me to the next problem at hand.
Beyond unemployment as a destroyer of consumer demand, there is also personal debt. Much of the focus within the mainstream and even alternative economics revolves around national debt (I will cover the many lies surrounding national debt in my next article). However, effects on fundamental demand are far clearer when one examines household liabilities. According to averages supplied through government stats (meaning the real numbers are likely far worse), the average American household suffers from between $10,000 to $15,000 in credit card debt, $155,000 in mortgage debt and $32,000 in student loan debt.
Americans owed nearly $12 trillion overall in 2014, an increase of 3.3 percent over 2013. Declines in some debts, including a decline in credit card debts since 2011, are attributed to numerous defaults, not repayments.
What we have here is a deadly fiscal combination; namely the combination of real unemployment at permanently high levels and real personal debt at unsustainable levels. This is the core reason behind the collapse in global demand that was discussed in the first installment of this series. With U.S. consumers no longer able to support their historical consumption habits and with the inflexible skeleton of the U.S. economy in particular dependent on past consumer dynamics, the system has little financial plasma left circulating.
This is not necessarily a new trend; but 10 years ago, Americans were able to offset their dwindling buying power by taking on massive debts through easy Federal Reserve fiat fueling questionable bank loans. They no longer have this option; thus, consumption is going to degrade (and is degrading) to the point that the current financial structure, stuck in its rigid and fragile dynamic, will collapse. There is no way around it.
As stated in my last article, the numbers given here are in most cases establishment-generated statistics. A common argument among state apologists and propagandists is that we in the alternative economic field should be labeled “hypocritical” if we debunk some mainstream stats while using others as reference points. I would make clear yet again that it is the contradictions within the government’s own numbers and claims that alternative analysts are most concerned with. My view is that when mainstream numbers actually reflect negative economic trends, they should be multiplied according to other prominent factors. That is to say, when the government bureaucrats and fantasy masters finally admit things are bad, they are actually much worse than indicated.
Some mainstream statistics are outright fraudulent; some are half true; others are factual yet hidden in plain site from the general public. In between the lines of all of this information, good and bad, alternative economists attempt to discern as much foundational truth as possible. As this series continues, I believe readers new to the Liberty Movement, as well as longtime activists, will come to view a wider and fuller picture of our fiscal situation and come to the same conclusion I have - That the manner in which we live today is about to drastically change, and that this coming change is being hidden from us deliberately by those who wish to use a tactic of financial shock and awe to their ultimate advantage.
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Ah, yes, a happy St Pattie's Day! I have already made 250$ rolling passed-out drunks in Savannah. Plus several watches and CCs.
Let's see what happens when the EBT cards stop working...every grocery store will be ablaze... Have a nice time now until the currency runs out. :P
I don't see that happening with ctl-p. It's true that every domestic purchaser takes a buying power hit with ctl-p, but there is no international demand for US goods (because we don't produce any) that would exacerbate the hit. I think it can go on for a long, long time.
It will go on until it doesn't ...when it doesn't there's going to be hell to pay.I agree that TPTB will drag it out as long as they can, screwing everybody along the way, printing their asses off. Leverage can only go so far. :P
I am afraid after the PM crashes we have seen -at least since April 2013- they can keep this game up longer than we can stay sane.
But yes, one day the music will stop.
I have stacked quite a bit, lost, unfortunately, off the back of my pick up truck; that's OK, I have turned to land and rental props.
You're going to need to do what you have to.Just stay away from stacking fiat currency. I have friends who thing that's the safe bet. I try to convince them calmly but all I ever seem to get is that blank cow stare...It's very discouraging. I just keep stacking and storing, waiting for the inevitable shit storm thats coming. The rest of the world one day is going to say "No More" and send us back all of that useless fiat.At that point everything will converge into one big shit house. We will be able to tell when that happens because all the super rich will be gone to the Bahamas for some well deserved R&R. :P
R-502 - A prediction I made in 2008 was that there will be a time Americans would be eating rations of yellow cheese and wheat pasta. At $40 a week for EBT it seems I wasnt far off. But I believe this amount can be sustained. Healthcare, SS and state pensions are another matter entirely.
As one astute commentator here stated that the money went for empire building which included very bad free trade deals. That all ties into a discussion about the privaledge and curse of being global reserve currency. The GRC becomes the global policeman. Based on human nature such power corrupte absolutley.
RD, I agree with everything that you are saying. I would have not guessed that they could have kept this thing afloat for this long. Our citizens truely are sheep. I know this is going to end badly,for the life of me(and my family) I can't tell when.It pisses me off when wew talk about $40 a week EBT and then you have multinational corporate douchebags like ADM, GE sucking in millions if not billions in corporate welfare dollars. These parasites need to be the first ones on the chopping block. :P
:P
"junk" silver is on sale...Buy it while it's cheap.
The truth is a constant. "change" is a trick.
We "changed" some folk's.
Bullshit.
You only led them 'forward' according to the script bitch.
Fuck you and die.
I'd like to buy about $2K-$5K in junk silver pre-'65 U.S. coins. Where does one get the best value for a purchase of that size? Where do you silver bugs buy your stack from?
I've looked on eBay, Craig's List, and a couple online coin houses - it's hard to tell where the best deal is. I want a mix of dimes, quarters, and halves. This would be to stash longterm as a store of wealth, not to try to trade and make a profit in a few months.
Ebay's the safest as long as you use a high rated seller. Buying at auction gives the most accurate price discovery.
Also remember that "silver bugs" or "gold bugs" are pejorative terms.
Perjorative terms?
And I thought that Gold Bug was a badge of honor. Silly me.
Just like being a Truther is also wearing a badge of honor as it describes a truth seeking individual, one who is not willing to be complicit in promoting lies which is immoral.
But in a world of lies the truth just gets in the way of fantastic delusion.
Let's just see where the lies will get them, what the lies will fail to buy for them.
The ones who seek truth earnestly shall be the ones who overcome in the long run. The liars will be damned.
Tall Tom - I am done reading your commentary as your solution is building homeade bombs and recruiting ex-cons to do the same to attack basic infrastructure. You state your doing this as America will be nuked. How the fuck is homeade bombs at a local level going to stop geopolitics at the international level?
Are your bombs going to stop advanced energy weapons and ICBM's? Your either a wolf in sheeps clothing or have lost your noodle pal.
The solution is building a better car and brake system when one fails and this means an inclusive system for all, that is how you get funded to do such and while nukes flying may well be the end to this particular bank-led system it doesn't mean we shouldn't be discussing whats after, even if 1/3 no longer are with us. Evolution is a bitch but extremely effective. We're a long ways off from a global Republic. Take your bombs and shove them up your own ass. You encourage imprisonment or death for only the gain of an increased police state.
Used a number of sources over the years. But right now I find www.texmetals.com to be one of the best. Very reasonable premiums for this size purchase (subject of course to the current market conditions, which are running pretty high right now for some reason). Not sure though on the junk silver, I buy mainly eagles and maple leafs.
http://www.apmex.com/category/25820/90-silver-by-type/all
90% Silver Coins - $100 Face-Value Bag Any quantity only $1.99 per oz over spot! 90% Silver coins circulated in the United States for almost 175 years. These pre-1964 dated coins are now a favorite of collectors and investors alike due to the value of silver.In U.K Brighton , Saturday street market in Upper Gardner st , North Laines , silver guy sells pre 1920 Sterling 92.5 British coins quarter kilo bags at 10% over spot
For a more anonymous purchase, you can usually find one or two coin guys at gun shows. Talk to them.
Or consult a friendly, neighborhood coin dealer in a nearby big city that is not your own.
The thing I like best about buying this way is that there is an immediate exchange of cash for specie. No waiting around and wondering if your local postman is a good guy or not. Most times, there is no paper trail either. or at best a very non-digital one that would require mountains of effort to sift through.
$2K to $5K Face Value? Or current Metal Value?
If I were you I'd place an ad in Craigslist and advertise that you purchase Silver Coins. Then buy them at a discounted price...well back of spot. Offer 8 or 9 times face value at this current time...NOT IN THE AD BUT OVER THE PHONE. Then adjust this offer as the price of Siver increases...or decreases (which is my forecast.) This allows for cost averaging as well as getting more Silver for your Yellenbuxs...
1) Do not bring them to your place.
2) Arrange a public meeting at Denny's
3) Do not go to their place. You choose the spot.
4) Do not carry large sums of cash. Arrange the meeting close to your Bank's ATM.
5) Do not dress rich. Dress poor and drive the junkiest car that you own.
6) Make the appointment for no more than one hour's advance. You do not want them to have time to arrange anything nefarious.
(So when can you get the coins? How many do you have? What do they add up to in Face Value? Yeah I am rather busy right now. Do you have them right now? When you have them then we can meet. Oh...You don't have them? They are in the Safe Deposit Box? No problem. Give me a call when you get them together. Thanks.)
You will be alright.
Buy bags from major dealers. Not from craig's list, never.
Why is that?
I have done well buying from the public. I have not been harmed.
What is wrong with buying from the public?
Why major dealers and not minor dealers?
Are you a major dealer and fear some competition?
For the lowest price, there's always Tulving.
Just kidding... since Hannes Tulving in fact went bankrupt (again) and, as far as I can tell, committed assorted criminal acts of fraud and misrepresentation for a solid year before filing. In other words the reputation of a PM dealer is indeed important, since Tulving is not the only firm that I've dealt with that has gone bankrupt after shafting its customers.
But Hannes did offer free shipping. Such a deal!
Gold is down again; quelle suprise.
And the douche bags that work at BLS are counted as employed and productive.
pffffftt
It will go down until it goes up.
It will go up until it goes down.
We screwed some folks.
Great diatribe, just like David Stockman and Michael Snyder. So what happens now?
Nothing.
Nothing will happen until the SNAP cards stop working.
Nothing will happen until they are ready to make it happen.
Nothing will happen as long as Honey Boo Boo and Kim Kardashian keep 'entertaining the low info troglodites.
And Nothing will happen as long as there is wealth left to steal from the proletariat.
Until then, just sit down, shut up, and keep watching the goddam TV.
Disclaimer: We kicked the douche network to the curb three years ago this month. Yesterday, I went out and bought our third ounce of gold with the money saved so far from the douche, err, dish network. Fuck them, I'm lining my pockets, not theirs and I don't miss it at all.
I hear ya, cut the cable TV cord a year and a half ago, brew my own beer, drink my own filtered water, make my own soap, grow as much food as I can, raised chickens so now I have my own organic eggs, got a coal stove with feeding hopper to heat my home, bake my own bread. I am now studying chemistry to start making my own batteries and ultra caps using new nanotechnology like Graphene. Learned all of it on the Internet. I'm a senior executive in a local government with a population of over 300,000. I see the writing on the wall.
Touchee' to you brother. Love the farm here and being a volunteer firefighter myself, we just keep on keeping on until the day the music stops.
If the cyber attacks were the real thing, how come they haven't targetted the EBT system.
The US would be destroyed in a week,using our FSA, without them firing a shot.
This is a very good question actually. That did happen at a Wal Mart in Loousianna I think a couple of years ago. A riot almost broke out. We definitely have a lot of state in our solutions right now.
Might be only a matter of time before we have a draft, etc...
Because your assumptions are wrong. Why would "they" want to burn down the USA when it is their primary tool to bring in the NWO(world government, currency, and taxes)? But if they do indeed get their NWO the way they want it you will see the USA discarded like an old dishrag.
Silver For The People
Interesting - Silver For The People
ZH-http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-03-12/wests-plan-drop-russia-swift-hi...
From this article coment by Victory_Garden: http://www.veteranstoday.com/2015/03/08/the-hidden-history-of-the-incredibly-evil-khazarian-mafia/
And from a commenter on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_izi23CK6fc&spfreload=10
It takes some time but starts to allow one to see through a dark glass clearly.
Double Post edit
"We kicked the douche network to the curb three years ago this month"
Good for you. We only pay for internet and watch a lot of Youtube. If you want to watch it together on TV just get yourself a Chromecast for 35 bucks. It plugs in to the back of your HDMI port on your TV and uses your wireless network. You can cast anything on your laptop to it or Channels like Youtube and Twitch have the app imbedded. If you want to cast a movie to it you can just use an app called Videostream, which will cast any movie on your hard drive to your TV far better than any HD on demand.
Chromecast
Videostream
Silver For The People
The average Amurican adult watches 4.5 hours of TeeVee per day.
Un-fucking-believable.
It would be more dignified just to have yourself lobotomized, and be done with it.
I should be so lucky.
I get about 10-15 minutes of a you tube doc or a netflix movie and I'm in nap-land.
2 hours a week would be a binge. TV is a sleeping pill to me.
We make things in our minds .... of course we export the shit jobs .... that's what poor Socialists are for .... in their "Worker's Paradise" .... American blacks are the largest leisure class in history !
....oh there are quite a few white ones too, numerically even more, but it has more to do with the lack of good paying jobs than it does having constant leisure time. Not many human beans are able to cope with endless hours of unproductive living, work was invented so that we wouldn't go nuts.
Man, black and white, NEEDS something to do that is within his capabilities or can learn to do well, and be paid enough money to live on, reasonably well. Granted there are generations of welfare kings, queens, and princes (esses)that have abused the system, but the majority with a modicum of ambition, would likew something meaningful to do with their lives.
That doesn't mean the cheaters shouldn't be dispensed with.
Cheaters? Who gets to decide the rules?
Man does not need a job. Man just needs to be left free of coercion or left alone.
I can guarantee that nearly all men need to work at a good job or they will wind up as mass murderers.
You may not be one of us but without work, I repeat, man would go insane.
So let it be written..
"If that was a reality, then all socialist and communist countries (same thing) would be wildly enriched today"
I have never seen a communist country in my life, if you mean state capitalism then you are right. By the way Soviet economy was productive but decided to spend all wealth in arms (like the US today?)
Are there 150 million Russians who don't have to work and live off the largess of those who do ? We produce luxury and the leisure to enjoy it !
When you compare Socialist and Capitalist standard of living .... you need new parameters .... Capitalism has produced new "Benefit Universes" .... that are not even enjoyed in shit states !
Productive??? Ever drive a Lada???
While initial sales were promising, reports of poor quality and reliability for the Lada Samaras soon began to take their toll and by 1996 sales had crashed to under 100 units. Ladas were imported into Australia after 1994, but it took two years to sell the remaining stock.
The Lada Niva enjoys a small cult following in Australia; it is the Lada model most often seen on Australian roads.
I've seen a lot of Nivas on Siberian roads. It's the RAV4 for folks who can't afford a RAV4.
Yeah well it's not like there are 100 Holdens in Russia either mate.
Well, there are a couple of examples of "real" socialist states---Democratic Kampuchea is the best known. They rarely lasted long.
Hope and Change? What if,
No one played the Lottery?
Tipping was included in the bill?
No one ate at fast food restaurants?
Paid off all credit card debt and never used them again.
Paid off mortgage and bought gold and silver instead of having a mortgage
payment?
Bought guns and ammo to protect said bullion?
Drive a ten year old truck instead of having a car payment?
Keep more fiat currency at home instead of in the bank?
What else can I do to piss off the system?
LIKE! If we keep playing bankster games we lose; if we play our game we win not 100% but more than the other way.
Shop exclusively at garage sales. Second hand everything.
Share the same lawn-mower and snow-thrower among all the neighbors on your street.
1. Check.
2. Don't eat at any place but home
3. Check
4. Check.
5. 36 months to go God willing.
6. Check
7. Check
8. Check
9. Tune out of MSM
10. Develop lasting relationships
Nothing to worry about. Jack and the boyz are meeting for a circle jerk this weekend, all will be handled.
So fear not, it is time once again to BTFD!
Socialist economies need us .... they are clueless .... we define their world .... we are what is .... if we had the intelligence to let Capitalism rip .... WE WOULD BURY THEM !
Capitalism ripped until 1913, that is why the bankers needed to get the fed in place. We the US States were advancing so fast the power elite of the world were sitting their pants. Think about it we are allegedly super duper productive with all this new technology but living standards have declined. Two incomes or more just to raise a family? With all this advancement you would think one person working part time would be enough. It's like it was written in 1984 you must have perpetual war / intrest on debt to soak up the excess wealth to keep the masses in there box. Hence the need to remove guns from the people.
Oh my God! How do some of you come up with this bullshit? Before 1913, you were either oil or railroad barons or living like a fucking dog.
Before 1913, you were either oil or railroad barons or living like a fucking dog.
Today you are either Oil Barons, Financial Barons, Real Estate Tycoons, Government employees or living like the fucking pampered dog, subjected to being kicked out into the cold at any time by your masters.
What difference is there? Did the socialism after 1913 really serve any better? No. Not really. In fact we have been suffering and dying from the greatest bloodletting in human history, because of that Central Bank.
There is even more suffering and even less Liberty than there was before 1913.
So stop being apologetic.
There it is! Tom has pulled an -ism out of his ass. That was bound to happen. If the posters here are seriously going to extol the virtues of 19th century American economics, then we may as well shut ZH down. The smarts have left the building.
Jesus Christ! Would it kill you to think about things for longer than two seconds! Not everything your radio tells you is true. What's next? The 1760's- The Zenith of Modern Economics.
Krugman! "The past 150 years of persistent economic growth which is an anomoly in contrast to the rest of human history is entirely attributable to our greater understanding of economics"!
I disagree with this Nobel prize winning thesis.
I am not extolling any virtue of 19th Century economics or the current fashion.
I am claiming, and quite correctly, that there is no real difference...excepting that of the bloodshed.
The Oligarchs ruled then. The Oligarchs rule today.
Your strawman argument is quite transparent.
Why you proposed it is somewhat curious. Do you have some sort of investment that you need to see the repression continued? You need blood money in order that you may cannibalize other people's production?
As for ZH being shut down? Nobody is forcing you to read it. You may leave at any time.
Get off of my porch you dishonest and corrupted fucker.
Are things better today economically on a grand scale? Yes, but I attribute most of that to scientific ends and not economic. The science and the economic are now starting to death cross as we become able to live longer, yet debt expansion is unable to remain sustainable. Hence, we have a problem. Finite resources for a planet that is seeing exponential growth. This means the unwind must happen...or so the big dogs think. They want it all so hence, the unwind will be very shitty for the bottom 99 percent. It doesn't have to be this way, but because they are greedy, it will be. Question is how will it go down to get us to what they believe is a proper population like 500,000.
Wrong, Bob.
Americans today have a far better life in many ways than our forbears a century ago.
Americans on average have better healthcare, spend a lower percentage of their take home pay on food and live longer lives.
In 1913, the average American male could expect to live to about 50.
Today, the average American male can expect to live to about 75.
Disabused again....
...and we can extrapolate this wonderful analysis how far into the future?
Until there are no more dogs for us to fuck.
<< ...you were either oil or railroad barons or living like a fucking dog.>>
Who knows, Bob. But the guy who just told you life was better is wrong.
You silly goose!
I never said that life is not better...for you...and for many others.
However for most it is far, far worse.
But how many souls were cannibalized by your ilk so that you can have it better than most?
Is your life worth the needless sacrifice of others' lives?
Was the US Government sanctioned murder of ONE HALF MILLION CHILDREN, INNOCENTS, worth it? So you support child murder so that your life is better?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOrrOu8uV8o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmWRlfKy4e4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEtdw7Z04QQ
Dishonest fucks like you will burn in the Lake of Fire for eternity. You lack a conscience. Enjoy your Hell.
Deflationary.
It's too expensive to live where there are jobs. You are better off living in the middle of nowhere and collecting benefits. The upside to living where there is work and working is marginal.
and too much traffic people....I prefer living away/staying away as much as possible from the sheep
Thanks to insidious Socialist sabotage .... we are playing .... "with half our brain tied behind our back" .... who said that ?
Many countries still have the 6 day work week .... we invented the 7 day weekend .... with Electronic Benefit Transfer !
".....that's because of the poison, it all starts in the gunads......it starts in the gunads, rises up to the throat and then seeps down into the muscles, bones and organs. You have to cut off the gunads."
(the late General george Custer, at Little Big Horn)
slowest train wreck evar?
Good article. Well..sad..but good.
Chances are that if a big correction does takes place then market sentiment could move money into the gold sector.It's all in timing of major fundamental world news.It's another macro-economic way to trade very long.That's wht very long traders listen to global events from different perspectives.These physical exchanges being ready to really take hold shortly in the next months over in the far east could really have a big effect on the corrupt central bank manipulative trading which could have seen its' day in London.Gold is actually the opposite of a Federal Reserve Note.The Federal Reserve Note is unconstitutional.The Constitution tells you what is the only money to be permitted.An example of big news today is Great Britain's move to join China's alternate world bank which will finance development projects worldwide outside the U.S. Dollar System.Washington openly gave England some bad mouthing to try to stop them from joining China,to no avail of the neo-nazis in The U.S. State Department (scum-sucking pigs like Victoria PMS's Nuland).
http://www.silverdoctors.com/bill-murphy-not-giving-up-on-gold-still-thi...
Cool, we are going to invade the UK next!
Low wages, no money and no credit means no spending. How much more simple can it be. Plus those of us that do have some money to spend are trying to save as much as possible for hard times coming.
duplicate
"Shock and awe" is correct. Most wil not see this coming and will starve to death as a result. Other CODs will be exposure, as they lose their homes, disease as clean water sells at a premium and meds are not available. We will become a third world country where antibiotic ointment will not be available and a simple cut to your hand could kill.
How many are stocking up on food, drink, meds, fuel, supplies etc? How many could protect it?
I'm old and I have never seen it this bad.
Those who prepare best for collapse will be governments first targets to confiscate. Local government using their militarized police will seek out the well stocked people, call them horders, and take what they have. History shows this to be governments first response to collapse.
Those with physical gold will be hunted down like animals until government has confiscated every oz.
From my cold dead hands.
Well that presumes two flawed fundamentals as unmitigated truths;
1. They are aware of who has made preparations and know where.
2. They will survive stepping foot on the homestead.
You need to compare the unemployment level to a more realistic one for the modern era not the poxy bullshit our western leaders proclaim.
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/south-africa/unemployment-rate
Average rate is 24% thats official some put it as high as 50%. Not the USA / UK / EU?
1.) Under a free trade economy that all elites are crying out for the level of participation in the workforce is equalised able to cross national borders as work and / or people can be easily moved. (THE LEVELLER)
2.) Under mass production techniques all the goodies produced don't really produce jobs like HP leaving the UK for Africa to set up automated production plants.(REDUCTION IF HUMAN LABOR)
3.) Efficiency if you chase it is to remove labor from a product because a TV is only a TV if all the parts are there like no screen TV's just do not work.(CHASE FOR CHEAPNESS SO MORE CAN BUY)
Conclusion:- Under 1. it stays constant but it is on the down by 2. and from 3. the trend will be to deflation if any normal level of participation in the workplace was allowed.
REALISATION OF THIS IS STARTING TO HIT MORE YOUNGER PEOPLE and go figure the consequences to a young adult with no future of no home, family, etc. Politicians will not man up to the reality of the modern era unless you put a rope round their neck and start pulling.
Is this the frustrated gold holder's site?
Am I in the right place? :-)
Tell us the websites where you usually hang out. We'll come and listen in to the real picture.
The 'real picture' for the past 5+ years is that equities would go higher and higher.
Any of the MSM sites sites will suffice - they all carried that basic message. Meanwhile, for the past 5+ years, Zeroes have been telling us the end of the world is nigh, equities will plunge and gold will soar.
To the everlasting chagrin of Zero Hedgers, the MSM's narrative for equity prices has been far closer to the truth.
That Potemkin Village will be exposed. It works until it doesn't.
Obviously. Everything 'works until it doesn't', Bob.
Unfortunately, the MSM narrative of 'equities higher and higher' has been far more accurate these past 5+ years than the Zero Hedge narrative of 'equities lower, gold higher'.
iofera ....so you are here because......?
iofera is yet just another account of the user Amerikan Patriot, who has already been banned multiple times.
He is here because he is paid to be here or incentivized in some way. No one would go through multiple accounts for a website to just be banned unless paid. So the question is why? The reason is that this sham of a matrix is crumbling and they are so desperate, they have to pay fuckheads like this moron who is so dense he cannot even come up with new material besides, "Bob" and "zeroes" to name us on here. It speaks volumes that they need a troll poster army to try and sway sentiments. If the narrative was so strong, this would not be needed. One only has to pore through these comments to see just how much of decline we are in. So, Amerikan Patriot et al will continue to try and sway the discourse and obfuscate because they know that the end is near. The numbers are simply too ugly to hide anymore and the facade will be undone to expose the truth. So, just ignore this fool. It proves we are close to the reckoning or he and the others would not be so diligent in trying to commandeer the conversation.
I haven't lost a penny in the stock market. I don't play that shit.
hey man if you liked gold at 1900 you gotta love it at 1100. when it goes to 700 you'll really really LOVE it.
I'll Bite. So at $700.US 1oz of Gold? I'll Buy. How hard, at that time will it be to get your hands on $100.?
My guess is very hard, yet everyone owes lots of CA$H that isn't there.
Now, when the music stops, who has a chair ?
If you don't hold it, You don't own it.
are u a gold holder....or just frustrated?
PROPAGANDA OR TRUTH....
March 14, 2015
Russia Warns “State Of War” Exists As UK Nukes Prepare First Strike
The intention of the nuclear forces of the UK preparing a first strike against the Federation, this report says, was revealed by Federal Security Services (FSB) electronic intelligence experts working in conjunction with Kaspersky Lab who discovered last month a massive US National Security Agency (NSA) cyber espionage programme targeting not just Russia, but everyone else on Earth. ......
http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1846.htm
edit: where there is smoke there is fire.
quit reading sorcha faal.
"even after years of alternative analysts debunking establishment stats and how they are calculated, we STILL end up hearing the same arguments parroted by disinformation agents and unwitting useful idiots."
After the last employment numbers were released, an establishment economist was interviewed on NPR during a morning economy report. He talked about fiscal policy and interest rate policy going forward in a Full Employment American economy. What changes should be made by the Fed to accommodate full employment.
No this was the entire discussion, of the new reality of a full employment economy in the USA.
How deep can the lies run? US Foreign policy is taken up by the war on terror and Russian aggression. Both of which are Washington generated lies. War on terror is just a spending program for military industrial contractors, US policy creates terrorists on a grand scale. The Russian aggression consists of a totally cornered Russia with NATO camped a short drive from St. Petersburg and Moscow, 1 days drive by car or less. An American coup in Kiev, and Kiev invasion of Russian Donbass. All that happened is Russians refused to be ruled by the US Kiev Junta. So they stand in fornt of their towns and fight the Junta Army. There is no aggression, this is only another spending program for the Military Industrial Complex.
The entire Washington government is now based on lies. America rewards every sort of failure, in banking and foreign policy. Those whose policies fail, are most rewarded with unlimited federal monies. The US economy is both a WAR economy, A SPY economy and a LAND LORD RENT SEEKERS economy.
There is little real wealth creation. Dollar hegemony and printing makes America the first nation in history that needs only print green paper to be wealthy and powerful, while wealth creation ceases to exist. Bankers make all the money, and Market Players make all the money. The vast Military Industrial Spy complex oversees the Dollar empire.
I wish to add that the printing of green paper depends upon theft and coercion as well. Anybody who refuses to trade in green paper is murdered or robbed.
From the frame of reference of the elite crony-capitalist and bankster class, there is no reason to fear failure. They need only go into their bunkers and wait us out.
The Dow and the S&P 500 have both showed signs of an impending collapse as the last two weeks have carried both indexes lower...
Dow
http://www.globaldeflationnews.com/dow-jones-industrial-averageelliott-w...
S&P 500
http://www.globaldeflationnews.com/sp-500-indexelliott-wave-update-for-w...
Enough of this talk. You have to spontaneously rise up and not stop until you have every last one of them that has control over any considerable amount of wealth otherwise they will use that wealth to kill you.
Arrest Goldman Sachs
Employment and unemployment are both interesting topics. I have been reading a discussion board used by employees at Target Corporation's MPLS Headquarters.
They use this to talk about the layoffs inside headquarters, and I find it very instructive to read "on the ground" experiences of fear of job loss, actual job loss, and new job seeking. It is really pathetic to read encouraging posts by employees telling those just laid off that this is the beginning of their new careers. How they can take their skills to other retailers and prosper. As if a laid off Target Employee with 2-20 years at Target is going to be sought out by retail giants to staff their headquarters. Target was overstaffed, terribly underworked. Having coffee appears to be how 1/2 of each workday was taken up [In their own words!]
I imagine, other retailers will shun former Target Employees as lay abouts and failures. NOPE! I doubt those bright cheery little posts about their futures just beginning. Do they understand Unemployment in 2015 America?
"Obligatory work produces only commodities. Every commodity is inseparable from the he which it stands for. So, obligatory work churns out lies, produces a world of lying representations, a topsy-turvy world where the image takes the place of reality. In this spectacular, commodity system, obligatory work produces two important lies concerning itself: - the first lie is that work is useful and necessary and that it is in everyone’s interest to do so; the second lie is the make believe story that workers are incapable of shrugging off wage slavery and work, and that they cannot build a radically new society, one based on attractive, collective creativity and universal self-mangement.
Time spent fulfilling an obligation to work is a commodity. Wherever there is commodity there is, unfailingly, obligatory labour and nearly every activity comes, little by little, to resemble obligatory labour: we produce, consume, eat and sleep for an employer, or a leader, or a State, or for the system of universal commodity.
In the commodity system which dominates everywhere, the aim of obligatory work is not, as they would have us believe, to produce goods which are useful and palatable to everybody, but rather just to churn out commodities, regardless of whether they might be useful or useless pollutants. Commodities have no purpose other than to sustain the profits and power of the ruling class. Under such a system, everybody works to no end and becomes aware of this."
- Raoul Vaneigem, 1967
Personal debt only destroys consumption if it's paid. Bankruptcy is not the only alternative. Many people pull through money troubles with only a couple of minor scrapes. But you need to know what you're doing. Because they often do.
http://www.amazon.com/Debt-Hope-dirty-survival-strategies/dp/1907498524
And what is to be made of this?
"Of the 102 million working-age Americans without work today, only 8.7 million are counted by the BLS as unemployed. Out of all working-age Americans, over 92 million are without jobs and are not counted by the BLS as unemployed."
Could someone please clarify this for me? The 92 million mentioned above excludes people over the age of 65, correct? I have always been under the impression that this is the case, there was a relatively recent Forbes article that said as much but has since been taken down. In fact more people over 65 are staying in the workforce if I remeber correctly.
people over 55 with jobs (one hour a week or more) are considerd employed--those 55 and over with out jobs are not counted as un-employed-- "un-employment is 5.5% ---lol---
Yes, but surely they are not counted in the 102 million who are considered working-age but not employed (92 million of whom are not counted as unemployed by the BLS), correct?
The BLS considers them "working age" if they are working. The BLS considers them "retirees" if they are NOT working. Get it?
I think the biggest problem in this country is of course the Corporations because they hire more than 20% of the population Closer to 50% of the young and old and even college graduates who are doing what ever they can to survive and many are living with parents and grand parents that are on social security. The corporations want every one to work for them at minimum wage and stager their hours to keep them from finding more than one part time job. Our King wants to be known as the President that made us not have to work as hard We are all surfs now until we take this country back it will continue.
I wonder. We all think that the official employment numbers are on the optimistic side, but what if "gray market" off-the-books, or informal employment is much more prevalent than we think? We all know that record numbers of americans are on food-stamps or disability, and we also know from other countries with a longer history of socialism, that the true "golden ticket" in a socialist economy is to combine reliable payments from the public dole, with sporadic work in the gray economy.
The whole point of informal employment, is that it isn't easy to track, so it's tax free and won't affect benefits. So we have no way of knowing how much US employment may have shifted to the gray economy, during the Obama years.
as someone whio has had only 2 jobs in the 40 years for A total of 5 years altogether i can tell you the underground economy is not near what it used to be. the key to the underground economy was cash and barter..gov has tightened up the use of cash making it de facto criminal to have more than a coupla thousands in real paper money. barter is only situationally convenient. drug dealing is still lucrative as are poker games and book making. thousands of people are making a decent living at flee markets. private maid services, landscaping/yard work, even hot dog vendors/lunch trucks.
i know guys in the country with a wood lot who sell firewood, and cut grass in the summer and snow plow in the winter.
there is a lot of money under table but not enough to account for the huge unemployment number.
The thing with the grey economy is that when someone slips into it (usually out of necessity) it's almost impossible to get them out of it. They may take a part-time job somewhere so as to appear to have a visible means of support but their main income is under-the-table.
This is what happens when tax-rates get too high or when wage earners feel they're getting the shaft, having to pay for welfare recipients, etc.
If you look around the world it's happening everywhere. It's worse in socialist countries than in countries with low taxes.
It's time to re-read "Atlas Shrugged". It's not just the rich who're doing a John Gault. It's everyone who is tired of supporting the corrupt system we have.
If a person does some work on the side and gets an extra $50 or $100, how much do you suppose it affects the trend? Not too many people are getting rich that way.
Sure there are drug dealers who might get paid a lot more, but overall an extra $100 isn't a blip on the screen.
kinda like selling apples in the food line huh?
Read whats really happening in Russia.
http://stateofthenation2012.com/?p=8159
The first line in this article is pretty funny:
um.... Chavez, Gaddafi, and Ahmadinejad come to mind!
Fascinating, excellent read, thanks.
Enjoyed that. Sounds like Russians are feeling pride a good thing. Sent it to a Russian I know living here who told me the other day That Putin rules with an Iron fist. He ment that as a compliment. He also referred to his home as the Mother Land. Very nationalistic. No doubt there has got to be more respect for him than we have for Obama Hillary, Biden etc. We dont even know who Obama is.
Awesome. Thanks...
There will be some deals. For example I'm looking to buy a mower for my property. Guy on craigslist wants $2500 for a nearly new model he bought last year for $3200. The manufacturer is selling direct the same model today for $2200 new with warranty. That wouldn't happen if demand were strong.
The answer is actually quite simple. Globalize everything into one central government and keep track of every digital imprint in a huge database, all voice, transactions, and movements. Then, collate this informationn into categories and rate them, from the highest risk to the lowest risk.
Then issue a global identity card which has all of your mandated vaccine information, all of your taxes paid and taken out per transaction, and all of you history of what you eat, when you take a crap, and what websites you follow.
Turn off the chips of those who don't comply, so they can no longer participate in commerce. In other words, starve them into submission. Then, start taking out the number one miscreants on the list and cull the herd. Pretty soon everybody will be happy and obedient and all of mankinds problems will go away.
Yes, that is close to the predators-that-be plans. But you made a mistake... you missed something.
You say, the predators-that-be will turn off the commerce chips of those who do not comply so they can no longer participate in commerce.
What you actually meant to say is "they can no longer participate in commerce except with others who also had their commerce chips turned off, plus some who still have their commerce chips, but choose to engage in some "unrecorded" business too.
This would STRENGTHEN those in favor of liberty and individualism by forcing them to collaborate with each other. One reason for the monumental failures of liberty folks and the liberty movement is... they are ALL TALK, NO ACTION.
By cutting them off from "officially sanctioned slaves", they would be forced to practice what they preach, namely trade and collaborate with other liberty folks.
After a fairly short time they will realize their lives are dramatically better than they expected (trading what they produce for goods and goodies other liberty folks produce... without taxes or regulations). They will also notice they are doing better than the abjectly enslaved and burdened "officially sanctioned slaves".
Over time, those "officially sanctioned slaves" will recognize this too. Some may turn against "the liberty underground", but many will "join them"... at first participating in both worlds, but then gradually extracting themselves from the world of "offical participants" because being an abject slave just isn't as efficient as an untaxed, unofficial, unregulated market.
But more likely, the predators-that-be will follow-through on their often-admitted plans to kill off 85% to 99% of the human population, and none of the above will matter much.
Ya, that's why it is proported that the CIA (and perhaps some others now in high placesdoes more then just dabble in the drug trade. There is a name for that market, the Black Market. It will find a currency.
Interesting plan. LOL.
Another good reason for those pesky miscreants in Russia, China, etc... to maintain strong militaries and keep their strategic and tactical nukes ready.
And what like of government would that be.. Blink sideways and you're broke.
Tipping point? US Government Plans to Bail out Oil Industry, Consumers to Pay by Wolf Richter • March 13, 2015
Announced Friday evening when consumers aren’t supposed to pay attention.
"That the manner in which we live today is about to drastically change, and that this coming change is being hidden from us deliberately by those who wish to use a tactic of financial shock and awe to their ultimate advantage."
Does anyone see a viable way out for the trapped rats as this surely unfolds? It would appear that we can see it coming, yet our ability to do much - or anything - about it approaches zero.
Yes, we can buy silver and gold if we aren't already among the 75% who live paycheck to paycheck or the 50% who have less than $800 in savings. or is it 75% who have $800 or less in savings and half live paycheck to paycheck? Either way, most people don't have enough cash to purchase one ounce of gold.
It's coming. We can nod our heads or shake our fists. Either way, it's coming.
If you can't afford Gold, then buy Silver. Right now I hear it's on sale.
Yes of course, but even then how much silver can a person buy with under $800? Of course it would be unwise to spend 100% of their savings on silver.
The point here is that for the last several years a lot of people have been in a poor position to protect themselves. The climax could be here soon and there's damn little anyone can do about it.
It takes a dramatic change in thinking. Think of ways to get off the grid and pursue them incrementally. Develop new off the grid income skills and reduced cost higher life value living arrangements. Store wealth in personal relationships, non urban property set up to sustain you, tradable personal skills you develop, and when you can, save money only in gold, silver or tradable items you hold. You are living in a fake system trying to evolve towards real slavery. It takes time but you have to commit to adjusting your thinking to prevailing realities and incrementally act in the direction of your emerging awareness. One does not have to remain a rat trapped on a slavers treadmill.
THe USSA is Mafia/Kosher-Nostra Shake-Down/Extortion/Protection-Racket/3-Card-Monte Criminal Enterprise masquerading as the "Shining City On The Hill".
DIVORCE IT.
More to the point you remove Washington DC from the Union and go back to a state representative government reinstating the Articles of Confederation (with some minor tweaks) sticking all that debt on DC. Then the states individually and independently start to issue their own currencies from state run banks. Let the fun begin.... You may lose the Constitution as the 'law of the land' but you kill 2 problems with one stone that way aka the Federal Reserve and Government.
The short term problems will be worth the pain, since there is only upside long term if it succeeds.
You will actually be returning the constitution to the land. The Federal government is now anything but constitutional.
I have watched over my lifetime the gutting of our jobs in america..from garment workers - to auto to electronics - now I watch as our medical drug jobs - go..India now produces the majority of generic drugs for the american market..millions of high paying jobs gone..they are vampires in DC and Wall St and at International banks, they feed on our children and us all.
Operation by Act, but we're on land...
We have a real economy?
ROFL!
Of course we do, just not much of one. Trust me, you'll know when the real economy is completely gone...
HIGHER UNEMPLOYMENT ALWAYS BLAMED ON WEATHER, OBAMA CONSIDERS BANNING THE WINTER
The White House wants to impose sanctions on Winter, to discourage it from affecting unemployment statistics.
Source: www.financialpaparazzi.com
then mighty king O should be for, not against, global warming...
Do markets ever crash on Mondays?
What we need is a strong grassroots movement to insist on candidates who demand changes like this to the system. As long as we're shitting ourselves, all we'll wind up with is shit (tm).
Great article.
RETIREMENT SAVINGS LEVELS CONTINUE TO WORSEN
New Research Finds Median Retirement Account Balance Dips to $2500 for Working Age American Households, Down from $3000
Nearly 40 Million Households Have No Retirement Savings
The full study is available here.
32 to 34 hours a week is all that I can get. I'm available every day. I was offered a 60 cents raise if I worked from 11 pm to 6 am, so that would bring my wage up to 7.90 per hour. I told the store manager at the "best Kroger in the Atlanta market" that the pay rate offered was not appropriate for the hours worked, I told him this in front of his departmant, and co-managers. He then said that it was all based on the "union agreement", I then said that it must be the weakest union in history if that is the best they could offer me to work those hours. Jaws dropped! I'm currently selling high priced meat and seafood for minimum wage; the same amount that is paid too the "handicapables" that collect carts and bag groceries; they have the added benifit of being able to live in their own little world without care, because they have someone watching afer them; I don't.
Kroger employee's are some of the worst compensated workers in the grocery business, and those in charge should be ashamed of themselves, but they are not.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrcTsxs-anU
Consider the dandelion. Many people see this plant only as a weed. But it’s an excellent source of calcium, potassium, iron, and manganese. It’s full of vitamins A, C, E, K, niacin, and riboflavin. The lecithin in its flower can detoxify the liver, and might help combat Alzheimer’s Disease.
In the context of a pristine lawn, it’s a nuisance. Place it in a different context—as a source of nutrition—and the picture changes completely. Context has a similar impact on employees. If you adjust work conditions appropriately, you can activate people’s hidden talents.
That might mean, for example, establishing workplace environments that enable individual value creation, or focusing training programs on bringing out and developing exceptional abilities, or establishing performance-management systems that de-emphasize conformity and instead focus on removing obstacles to higher performance.
Who is the manager of the Season of those who cannot see.
I'm making over $7k a month working part time. I kept hearing other people tell me how much money they can make online so I decided to look into it. Well, it was all true and has totally changed my life. This is what I do... http://goo.gl/ezLA00
nevermind