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A Member Of The Middle Class Responds To Jon Hilsenrath
Reader Joe responds to Jon Hilsenrath's "ironic and tongue in cheek" letter:
Dear Mr Hilsenrath and your Central Bank Team,
This is Joe from the disappearing Middle Class in America. You asked me the other day to drop you a note if I felt that something was wrong. What I’m having trouble with is “why” you’re asking me if anything is wrong! ?
So let me explain.
Regarding the weather, as you stated, the sun shined in April. It was also overcast some days some places, rained a few spots here and there, was nice quite a few days and even got dark on time, most evenings. And the Commerce Department is spot on that my spending didn’t increase any adjusted for the inflation that you all keep telling me isn’t there. Have you tried to buy some hamburger recently or do you just eat out on a corporate credit card? The price of a pack of spaghetti has doubled over the past 3 years. Me and Mrs. J along with the kids kinda like spaghetti now and then and the Mrs. even made a great Bolognese sauce, but the hamburger got too expensive as has the spaghetti, so we had to cut back. So you're right, we did sit at home and watch Dancing with the Stars a lot. It's what we can afford. So, I really don’t get what you guys mean by those “winter doldrums” because things have gotten worse independent of the weather. The weather's had nothing at all to do with it.
And talking about worse, you’re right. I did get fired in late 2008 from a high paying salaried job with benefits when the economy dumped due to the Lehman Brothers shock. Since then I’ve been holding down a part time greeters job at Home Depot with no benefits. I even took on a second part time job with no benefits at another place because I was getting bored watching television all day. Plus, we could use the extra money as our savings has been depleted. And we’re very worried about our health and the cost of healthcare is skyrocketing. But I guess you probably have a health care plan paid for by the Wall Street Journal. Why, feeling particularly liberated, Mrs. Joe's even picked up a couple of part time jobs, as well. “Arbeit macht frei" seems to have taken on a whole new meaning these days for whole bunch of us out here.
And then when the stock market collapsed, our 401(k)s got wiped out as we’d been buying all the great stuff that the professionals on CNBC and and our broker had told us were "bullet proof". See, I had to rely on somebody, because I’m not a professional investment manager and really don’t have a lot of financial savvy. I was just doing what my government suggested, that I was liberated by doing my own investing in my own 410(k). I guess not. And yes, when I got scared to death, right at the bottom of the market, I sold all the stuff and wound up with next to nothing for retirement. And since we don’t have full time jobs with any benefits, it’s kind of a moot point that my market timing was bad, isn’t it? So when you think of all the wealth being gleaned by people invested in stocks, none of us few guys left in Middle America have any stocks, period.
But it is what it is, isn’t it? Maybe you should understand that as well: we’ve not benefited from any largess bestowed upon the “system”, zero interest rates since nobody loans me money at zero %, or rising stock prices. Lemme know if you can tell me where to issue 100 year zero coupon bonds like them Brazilians, OK? (Even I get that! Great math, because I’m not gonna make it for 100 years, am I?)
I know that you said that you guys in the newsroom think that these shocks were a long time ago, and they were, indeed. But you see, I've had a bad experience since 2008 and the only thing happened is that it’s gotten worse, since. Guess you never took the hit, did you? Maybe that’s why you’ve no empathy with my situation. Nope, no empathy whatsoever, all you guys in good jobs talking with one another and the Wall Street tycoons and gainfully employed high income earners.
And I’ll bet that your kids who just graduated college, both of ‘em in the last 4 years, didn’t have trouble getting decent jobs, did they? Well, both of ours didn’t get any job straight out of school, looked for over a year and now have part time, no benefits jobs, just like mom and dad. And they both graduated from great schools with real employable skills. Little Joe has a degree in Marketing and Little Mrs. J in Journalism. Would you be looking for anybody at the Journal? I didn’t think so. What about those people who all work for the government making all sorts of rubbish up out of thin air and calling it news? I don’t know any, either. By the way, the kids live at home because neither can afford anything on their own.
So, you and the American economy might just not want to hold your collective breaths waiting for any of us to spend money on anything, because we can’t afford it. Do you understand now? And talking about phones, do you know where can I get an ObiePhone, because I can’t afford all the monthly bills for the four of us, anymore. Let me know. And buy the way, I fully understand that the Greeks and Chinese are not as well off as we. In fact we know that there are kids starving in Africa. So, do something about it, you’re the people with all the influence! And what's any of that straw-man rubbish about Greeks and Chinese got to do with the four of us having a tough go of it? And no, we haven't been able to pay down any of our debt as we don't have the disposable income. In fact, if we had a windfall maybe we'd use it to to pay off the second mortgage that everybody told us to get because home prices were going to go up forever (just ask the CNBC folks again) and nobody asked us anything about our assets or incomes. They called us NINJA’s and that we were smart and brave. Lot of good that did, no?
So John, here’s the real scoop. We ain’t got the resources to spend anymore on anything except what is absolutely necessary. Oh, you ask, who then are the folks crowding the cruise ships and tattoo parlors? We'd guess they’re the people on government assistance that we're supporting on de minimis hourly wages and no benefits that the government showers with our tax money in order to buy their votes. Didn’t think I knew that, did you? Well, we all do. And no, we’re not racist, radical or anything of the ilk for disliking it.
So, hope you get my take on all this. And if you're left wondering, maybe read it a couple more times because the truth of the matter is right there. And please remember us during the next big holiday, when the Joe family will most likely be lucky to be splurging, stretching it, with a plate of spaghetti Bolognese.
Joe
* * *
Here are some more of the nearly 200 comments after the original WSJ piece.
Many more responses here.
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If this Joe character is eeal, he is playing things all wrong...
Dump one of the part-time jobs and get on food stamps, Medicaid, and any other programs available...
Perhaps he has pride and a character that will not allow for that.
Government assistance shall be the very last resort. When all other avenues are absolutely and completey exhausted, when you have nothing left to sell or lose, then that, perhaps, is better than starvation.
Or perhaps Joe's suicide would be the alternative which the Government is seeking???
With such low income he'll get subsidzed up the ying yang or he's eligible for a state Medicaid program.
If you own a house and you opt for Medicaid then the State liens your house for the cost.
They end up seizing your home after you die. Your family is pushed onto the streets.
Is that the good option that you seek for Joe, Stevious?
What a statist!!! You masquarade. You pretender.
Maybe Stevious rhymes with devious for a reason?
It appears Hilsenrath’s letter from Wall Street struck a nerve on Main Street.
Hilsenrath, of course, was only repeating what the Fed has been saying; it’s the Fed’s policy to force savers and 401 (k) people to put their money into the game and off the side lines, where the banks can get a crack at it.
IOW, Hilsenrath’s letter was a truthful representation of Fed policy. Believe it or not.
Joe Public believed it. And the proverbial has hit the fan.
Good Insight JR.
Go Joe! We said and spot on. Things suck... But the market is close to all time highes! BTFATH and crack the bubbly...
F***ing Sheep. You will be for dinner.
WTF!
Go Joe! We said and spot on. Things suck... But the market is close to all time highes! BTFATH and crack the bubbly...
F***ing Sheep. You will be for dinner.
WTF!
8301 Hackamore Dr Potomac, MD 20854-3877
Landline Number: 301-983-0270
Hilsenrath's home and landline.
That escalated quickly
Let me add to this lil exercise...
If you get those annoying calls from the boiler room telemarketers that the folks working at the DNC list just ignore .
You have a landline or other with selective call forwarding, enjoy a bit of shadenfreude.
Selectively Forward all those annoying calls to Mr. H & family. My service has a limit of 10 numbers, but c'mon folks here could really juice this up.
I had someone locally call me back & get fugly after I hung up on them. Did just that & it's so peaceful now. One scammer forwarded to another...I'm lovin' it!
Just think of the vectors. "Hi, this is Rachael from card services. This is your final call."
Revel in giving. Even if it is to a no count pole cat.
;D
I'll add to this a bit, one could go all over the interwebs and sign up to receive all sorts of shitty junk mail and porn to be sent to that address as well...
Too bad it's "Off Market" or you could grab it for Zestimate®: $1,285,955.
The American middle-class is or was the biggest barrier to the Newly Ordained (by Satan) World System and must be and is being systematically destroyed...this was Obama's mandate and he has done very well. One problem is the unimaginable stupidity of people who could not clearly see through Obama from the start as the liar & deceiver that he is. (i.e won't allow college records to be released, produces phony (now proven) Cert of Birth etc) He has now proved himself as the "Liar in Chief" and not disappointed his handlers. He will likely be in hell since his conscience seems to be, as the Scripture states, seared, which means there is no recovery.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Make no mistake "folks" or "let me be clear"; he will stand before King Jesus and Obama and many others will be declared guilty and they will pay in the eternal state (absent of time) in a place worse than the bottom of a pit-john. Many others will join him & greet him including some who are reading this because your hearts are as wicked & darkened as his, but if you repent and if you trust in what God meant by what He has said, then there exists hope...even for scum like Obama.
The oil industry in N. America was the only industry that was still going strong, employing thousands with good paying jobs. Well, that industry is now on the skids thanks to Obama's friends in Saudi Arabia.
Do we see a pattern here?
TPTB have always hated the middle class. Always. When people gain a little prosperity, they gain a little freedom and can make choices. TPTB hate that, they want dependent serfs. An economy cannot be so badly mismanaged without a good deal of it being intentional. Fuck Every One of You- I will never comply. In honor of Hilsy's letter, I cancelled my cable TV and my landline today. Fuck You
Joe - I got your back but not in the same way your Uncle Sam has it.
Ah. the old 3 handed proctologist trick, eh?
"doc.. excuse me.. if you have both hands on my shoulders, what are you using for the examination?"
Scrutinizer
The Federal Reserve banksters just want the middle class to put their money in that rigged ponzi scam known as the stock market. As soon as they do I guarantee you 100% that the Fed will most definitely smash it to the ground. As a matter of fact they have their fat fingers on the trigger just waiting for what is left of the middle to put their last few pennies into that racket. Yesterday's dollar crash was meant to scare the crap out of the middle class. They were hoping that the middle would put their money in the stock market Ponzi racket to save their savings. I guess the middle didn't fall for it now did they? I am sure a few idiots did.
Enron traders talking about Grandma Milliehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOLNWF5QMxY
California Energy Crisis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl8eJTRKOIc
If one company (Enron) had the power to control energy prices in California which by the way never had an energy crisis until Enron took over. Just imagine the kind of power that the banksters have with stock and commodity prices. Its exactly the same thing only in a much huger and larger scale. Why do you think that the Fed are so paranoid over anyone starting up their own stock and/or commodity exchange?
That schism with Russia and China has nothing to do with artifical islands or Ukraine. It has more to do with the BRIC's bank. Now turning to Texas, that Jade Helm operation has nothing to do with gun control it has more to do with that gold exchange they want to set up there. Any honest exchange will ruin the Federal Reserve's banksters control on the market. That is why they want war.
It's great he called him on the media BS.
Got a bit of trouble for doing what "others" tell you to do.
It's obvious he can read so therein lies the rub.
Who's fault is it?
Lazy, frightened or both.
I remeber very few americans bitching when their country was doing it to Chile, Ecuador, Iran, Indonesia, Vietnam, Panama,.......Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Russia, Yemen, etc. The "land of the free" is simply next in line. We knew it was coming.
Yes, you're spot on. But many started to wake up right around Libya.
I think most honestly believed, probably still do tbh, that all of those things were done out of righteous compassion and spreading freedom.
Try a little experiment. The next time you see a vet or someone with one of those, "My xyz is in the abcs" stickers on their car, talk to them. See if they realize Caitlyn is really fighting for bankers profits and global subjugation. If not, use a stop watch to determine just how long you can stay upright after you explain it to them.
I believe since it's impossible to turn this thing around anyway, just go out and get every govt handout you qualify for and starve the beast as quickly as possible.
Fuck it. Destroy it and start over.
10 years ago, I would have never said something like this, because I still believed it was possible to fix it. That window is closed.
Hillary/Sanders 2016!!!
Lets do this shit!!
Joe said he got tired of sitting around watching TV??? This may be part of the problem??? I don't think this Joe actually exists, not to say that there aren't those people who never recovered from the carnage of the bankers bliss.
First they ignore you, then they make fun of you, then they rob and steal from you, then they fight you,then they deny any of it ever happened and start ignoring you again.
You never win.
Time to invest in some rope. It is going to be in high demand soon. All these WSJ assholes will hide with the bankster assholes in the gun free communist state of NY. You down have to think too hard to figure out why the places where the government and banker scum live are all gun free zones or total gun control states...NY, NJ, CT, MD, DC.
Joe's response is great.
A lot of those other responses not so much.
Find out where Hilsenrath lives and shoot the fucker dead. Stupid, pompous bastard!!!
His address is supposedly posted above, but call him first let him know your on the way, tidy up his affairs and stuff first..
Jon Hilsenrath is a piece of garbage.
If the WSJ was a decent rag it would fire the guy.
Seriously. They way they pander to women and gays is getting under my skin. I thought we have "The View" and the Huffington Post for that. Can't there be one newspaper in the whole fucking world that was written by men for men?
Give him a break.
He's been spending all of his time flying around in his brand new Gulfstream G650. Besides he has people for these little mundane things like buying Kobe Beef and setting up trysts with underage girls and boys.
hey Jon H.
you're a fucking moron.
sincerely,
One Concerned ZH Reader
soon I am expecting Mr Yellin, to write:" The FED has done everything it can, we are limited as to what we could do, 0 or neg interest rates have not turned the economy around..the reason is the American people are spoiled children who will not listen to our advice. What can we do ?the people are causing the weak economy..it's the publics fault and we will Not be held responsible, we are not responsible."
when this happens- do not have your money in stocks, bonds or banks..
WHY???...Give these CRIMINALS the satisfaction by responding?
the old silent treatment, has the best effect! keep these CRIMINALS guessing...Right?
CRIMINALS, will become prisoners in their own world
prisoners?
The best response would be this one:
http://www.thecommonsenseshow.com/siteupload/2013/05/guillotine.jpg
i think these people would have done alright if they had just followed the Fed.
"You should feel lucky you’re not a Greek consumer."
Honest to God, if you don't know when they're pissing on you, there really is no hope.
finally, a real person, with a real life, responds in his own real words to Hilsensrath. That guy speaks for alot of us muricans out here in the hinterland flyover country. Thanks Joe!
Cheer up Joe, as we type Boehner is once again proving he is Obola's butt; boy by making sure the repubs stay in line to pass the super secret TPP bill. Can't read it, but you can bet your missing hamburger at supper that it will NOT increase jobs for americans. Just more corporate gravy over the meat and potatos (read trillions) they have already stolen from the middle class.
Since we can't read it and "they" aren't saying, what makes anyone think this "trade" bill is actually a trade bill?
Oh. The people who won't tell you what is in it are telling you what it is. Got it. Thanks.
Check please!
I guess we have just had our "Let them eat cake" moment. Which way is the proverbial and figurative Bastille?
East.
Savers, AKA Money Hoarders, should be waterboarded and forfeit their assets.
Just an aside, but can anyone believe that savings JUST 5% is frowned upon. People should try saving way more than that - if they still ahve jobs of course.
Wait until TPP is executed, a small percentage of earned income will be allocated towards mandatory spending. Not joking.
Instead of buying 6 red beets, you have to buy 12 and a bottle of vodka.
At $450K MSRP, order backlog of one year out. The 1% sentiment indicator.
EarthRoamer XV-LTS F-550 Off-Road RV: Ultimate Zombiepocalypse Luxury RideNeeds too much fuel.
Good observation 10mpg is piss poor, primarily a driveway tchotchke.
That thing is seriously cool. Were I a billionaire, I would buy one and tool around the country going to electronic music festivals.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LEcDlD8Jz5k
Our tribal negro in the White House thinks he's RH.
Actually, he thinks he's Jewish. As far as I can tell, he is.
Well, I guess I should have left a comment on the WSJ thread last night, when it was possible (I'm a paid subcriber to the paper version, and there was a "comment" box to write in at that point). Now the comment box is gone. Funny that - could that be why there are only 137 comments? Maybe if they had not shut down the comments, there would have been a few more?
So I'll put it here: Hilsenrath = mouthpiece of the central banks, toady of the .1 percent, lackey of whomever pays him to torment the weak. It used to be considered in bad taste to sneer at the poor, but here we find him mocking the economic struggles of most Americans during the Second Great Depression. He probably sets out trip hazards for the blind for his own amusement, too.
I got to comment.
Dear Jon,
We Americans are tiring of the central planning committee and their Goebbels like propaganda outlets, such as you and the Wall Street Journal. We sincerely wish for the system to crash and reset. We have had enough of being ruled by unelected bankers who operate a private bank, and print a private fiat currency based on an wholly unsustainable model of ever increasing debt, all for the benefit of themselves and their fellow dual citizens, both in public and private enterprise. We are Americans, not Israelis nor communists, after all.
As such, we hope you fall off the cliff with the system, never to be heard from again. If we are the victors, and we do end up writing the history, you will be most unpleased with what we have to say.
It appears as though WSJ is not taking any more comments on this article... I wonder why??????
Every comment I read was spot on, and I have to say I could not stop laughing.
signed
Broke and laughing.
Robust Middle class was anomaly in the US not a rule.
It was created in the form we are longing for, just after WWII not because goodness of heart of ruling elite but because they were shitting in their pants in fear of collapse of Anglo-American empire and loosing it all to revolution or nuclear war.
The process of rise and decline of middle class and US small business is neatly described below:
https://sostratusworks.wordpress.com/2015/01/31/diversity-of-one/
"Hilsenrath knows why the middle class is evaporating. He's just an asshole who looks down upon the people from his Park Ave balcony. His article was just a big middle finger to the middle class for not being as brilliant as he and his elitist cocksucker friends."
Exactly. He's garbage. That SOB.
Meh, our comments were better, Tyler.
two cars, paid for, credit cards, zero balance, freezer, venison from last year to last until mid September, mortgage, manageable. I havent bought new clothes except for underwear for 4 years. We buy everything at second hand stores. I made less money in 2014 than I did in 1984. I loved it. Starve the beast. Working now on having Illinois in my rear view mirror. Free beer for all that day. Road trip to be announced. Until then. Starve the beast.
How dare you not work up a debt and spend beyond your means. You are betraying the American economy and worse still, the people on Wallstreet! Think of their children. How are they going to explain to their friends that daddy will make less bonus this year than last year. Have a heart!
Well, now, John really got ripped a new one. Deservedly so, to boot, for that propaganda garbage he wrote in the WSJ.
Tony Blair (ex UK PM and notorious war criminal) once commented on all the outcry over the financial crisis: "what should we do then? Hang a few bankers at the end of the street?". Somebody commented on that by saying "well, it is a start".
Joe's script probably cleared by some delusional nut in Fed or by someone who is out of touch that the apex at Fed just as frightened and confused that their policies are not working.
Joe's script is cleared by WSJ probably by colleagues who want to fix him i.e. displaying his infantile mind in yelling at what does not work according to his delusion.
Or is it that Joe is just the victim of a "tease" by WSJ where the top guns will not dare to put their names to the piece.
Whatever, no angst is required. More of JH, please as these clowns entertain more than the comic strips.
p.s. the cherry on his piece is China. The deep analysis behnid it, if any, will send the schooled in China (at least 100m) laughing and asking for more.
Can't even afford to throw eggs at that clown
http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2015/06/egg_prices_skyrocket_in_nj_...
Hilsenrath's article is the best piece of shit I have ever read. It beats by far everything else. It is confusing because you don't know where to put this oakie, being stupid or sarcastic. Toying with sarcasm is stupid in this context, so stupidity is. But...
... it is so stupid that it makes me think that perhaps it is actually a piece of genius. Reading the reaction created, it may be possible that the article was meant to show the Feds what people really think of them. It was acid poured on water that went boom! No need for a match.
A text like that can generate riots, and perhaps that was intended for. Just a thought.
There is another return if you tell whimsy jokes to the poor and illiterate.
Hilsenrath gives us a kinder, gentler "Let them eat cake" for 2015.
Here is a bit about Jon from several years ago. Clearly he is Bernanke's et. al. Mouthpiece. http://dailybail.com/home/hilsenrath-speaks-bernankes-mouthpiece-hints-a... Edit: i wonder how much Jon gave to the Clinton Foundation?
the cynical interpretation is wsj thought they could present a disgruntled middle class view to their "banker" readership and elicit a more "conservative" response. i think that the overwhelming negative response took the rag by surprise and caused more than a few .1%er to hire more security. i think it scared the shit out of some people who don't care for free citizens.
Time to round up the media hacks who tow the line for a broken system and the corrupt psychopaths who pull their strings.Empty out the Zoos,and place these treasonist bastards on public display,so that their 15 minutes of Fame can be appeciated by the unwashed masses.
Yes ZH posters need to play "plot the central banker with their home addresses" so we can all "drop them a note"
Consumers (to use the WSJ vernacular) don't understand how much power they could exert if they simply quit spending money. A drop in consumer spending gets attention; a near-stoppage of consumer spending would REALLY get attention. Perhaps if consumers collectively decided to buy only absolute necessities, the folks who make the big decisions about the economy would be make decisions that benefit working people instead benefiting only those with means.