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Consumers Are Not Following Orders

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform blog,

Last week the government reported personal income and spending for April. After months of blaming non-existent consumer spending on cold weather, shockingly occurring during the Winter, the captured mainstream media pundits, Ivy League educated Wall Street economist lackeys, and Keynesian loving money printers at the Fed have run out of propaganda to explain why Americans are not spending money they don’t have. The corporate mainstream media is now visibly angry with the American people for not doing what the Ivy League propagated Keynesian academic models say they should be doing.

The ultimate mouthpiece for the banking cabal, Jon Hilsenrath, who does the bidding of the Federal Reserve at the Rupert Murdoch owned Wall Street Journal, wrote an arrogant, condescending, putrid diatribe, directed at the middle class victims of Wall Street banker criminality and Federal Reserve acquiescence to the vested corporate interests that run this country. Here are the more disgusting portions of his denunciation of the formerly middle class working people of America.

We know you experienced a terrible shock when Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008 and your employer responded by firing you.

We also know you shouldn’t have taken out that large second mortgage during the housing boom to fix up your kitchen with granite counter-tops. 

You should feel lucky you’re not a Greek consumer.

Fed officials want to start raising the cost of your borrowing because they worry they’ve been giving you a free ride for too long with zero interest rates.

We listen to Fed officials all of the time here at The Wall Street Journal, and they just can’t figure you out.

Please let us know the problem.

The Wall Street Journal was swamped with thousands of angry responses from irate real people living in the real world, not the elite, QE enriched, oligarchs living in Manhattan penthouses, mansions on the Hamptons, or luxury condos in Washington, D.C. Hilsenrath presumes to know how the average American has been impacted by the criminal actions of sycophantic Ivy League educated central bankers and their avaricious Wall Street owners.

He thinks millions of Americans losing their jobs and their homes due to the largest control fraud in financial history is fodder for a tongue in cheek harangue, blaming the victims for the crime. Hilsenrath reveals he is nothing but a Fed flunky who is fed whatever message they want the plebs to hear. His job is to obscure, obfuscate, spread disinformation, and launch Fed trial balloons to see whether the ignorant masses are still asleep. The Fed and their owners can’t understand why their propaganda hasn’t convinced the peasantry to follow orders.

A system built upon an exponential increase in debt, cannot be sustained if the masses stop buying Range Rovers, McMansions, stainless steel appliances, 72 inch HDTVs, iGadgets, bling, and boob jobs on credit. His letter to America reeks of desperation. The Fed and their minions have used every play in their Keynesian monetary playbook, and are losing the game in a blowout. With a deflationary depression beginning to accelerate, they have no game.

Despairing mothers, unemployed fathers, impoverished grandmothers, and indebted young people are supposed to feel lucky because they aren’t starving to death like the wretched Greeks. We do have one thing in common with the Greeks. We’ve both been screwed over by bankers and corrupt politicians. Did you know you’ve been given a free ride by your friends at the Federal Reserve? Did you know that zero interest rates and $3.5 trillion of Quantitative Easing (aka money printing) were implemented to benefit you? According to Hilsenrath, the Fed lending money at 0.25% to their Wall Street bank owners, who then allow you to borrow from them at 15% on your credit card, represents a free ride for you. Are the subprime auto loan borrowers, who account for 30% of all auto sales, paying 13% interest getting a free ride?

Hilsenrath is purposefully lying. Bernanke and Yellen have been saying they want to start raising interest rates for the last four years. Remember the 6.5% unemployment rate bogey set by Bernanke in January 2013? Unemployment dropped below 6.5% in early 2014 on its way to 5.5% today. Did they raise rates? In 2013 we had two consecutive quarters of 4% GDP growth, with no Fed rate increase. In 2014 we had two consecutive quarters of 4.8% GDP growth, with no Fed rate increase. We have added ten million jobs and the stock market has tripled since 2009, with no Fed rate increase.

We are supposedly in the sixth year of an economic recovery and the Fed is still keeping the discount rate at a Lehman “world is ending” emergency level of .25%. Six years after the last recession the discount rate was 5.25%. The last time the unemployment rate was this low the discount rate was 4%. The only ones getting a free ride from the Fed’s zero interest rate policy and QE to infinity have been Wall Street banks, the .1% who live off the carcasses of the dying middle class, zombie corporations who should have gone bankrupt, and politicians who keep running up the national debt with no consequences – YET. The Federal Reserve is a blood sucking leech on the ass of America. Their cure has been far worse than the original illness – Wall Street criminality. In fact, their cure has been to reward the Wall Street criminals while spreading cancer to the working class and euthanizing senior citizens.

Hisenrath and his puppet masters at the Fed can’t figure you out. For decades you have followed their orders and bought Chinese produced shit with one of your 13 credit cards. The Bernays’ propaganda playbook has produced wins for the ruling class since the early 1980’s. Their record is 864 – 0 versus the working class. Our entire warped economic system since the 1980’s has been dependent upon an exponential increase in debt peddled by Wall Street to citizens, government and corporations to give the appearance of a growing, healthy economy.

An economy built upon the consumption of iGadgets, Cheetos, meat lovers stuffed crust pizza, and slave labor produced Chinese baubles, along with the production of enough arms to blow up the world ten times over, and the doling out of trillions to the non-productive class, is doomed to fail. Maybe I can explain the situation in such a way that even an Ivy League educated central banker or a Wall Street Journal faux journalist will understand.

Maybe Jon and his Fed cronies could be enlightened by a look at the American consumer before the bubble boys (Greenspan, Bernanke) and gals (Yellen) at the Fed, along with the corporate fascist takeover of our political system, and the propaganda spewing corporate media monopolies, combined to deform our financial and economic system for their sole enrichment. The lack of spending by consumers might just be due to some of the following factors:

  • Back in 1980 income meant money earned through working, investing, and saving. The amount of personal income made up of wages totaled 60% in 1980. Today it totals 51%. Interest earned on savings accounted for 14% in 1980. Today it accounts for 8%, as the Fed has punished seniors and savers with negative real interest rates. Since 2009 the Fed has robbed over $1 trillion in interest income from seniors and savers with their zero interest rate policy and handed it to the Wall Street banking cabal. Bernanke didn’t just throw seniors under the bus, he ran them over, backed up over them, and ran them over again.
  • In a shocking development, government welfare transfers accounted for 11% of total personal income in 1980 and have risen to 17% today. Only the government could classify money which has been absconded at gunpoint from working Americans in the form of taxes and redistributed back to other Americans as welfare payments, as personal income. If you take money from your left pocket and put it in your right pocket, is that income? The replacement of wages and interest by welfare redistribution payments has not benefited society whatsoever.
  • In 1980 consumer credit outstanding as a percentage of personal income totaled 15%. Today it totals 22%, an all-time high. It is higher than the bubble peak in 2007-2008. Real per capita disposable income has only risen by 88% over the last 35 years. Meanwhile, real per capita consumer debt has risen by 288%. Wages and earnings from saving have been replaced by debt. The propagandists for consumerism have convinced the ignorant masses to spend money they don’t have, while pretending to be wealthier and successful. Consumer debt currently stands at a towering all-time high of $3.4 trillion, almost ten times the $350 billion level in 1980. Hilsenrath and the Fed are upset with you because credit card debt still lingers $122 billion, or 12% below 2008 levels. It has forced them to dole out $900 billion of government controlled subprime debt to University of Phoenix wannabes and any deadbeat that can scratch an X on an auto loan application. The U.S. economic system is like a Great White Shark that must keep swimming or it will die. The Federal Reserve run U.S. economic system must keep generating debt or it will die. They are growing desperate and you are not following orders.

  • Before the grand debt delusion overtook the populace, they were saving 11% of their disposable personal income. In 1980, Depression era adults still believed in saving for large purchases such as a house, car, appliance or home improvement. The young adult Boomers didn’t have the same experiential deterrent. They were convinced by the Wall Street debt peddlers, Madison Avenue maggots, and corrupt politicians that saving was for suckers. Live for today, for tomorrow may never come. Well tomorrow did come. Boomers are entering their retirement years with $12,000 in retirement savings, while still in debt up to their eyeballs. There have been 10,000 Boomers turning 65 every day since 2010. This will continue unabated through 2029. This demographic certainty was already depressing consumer spending, as this age demographic spends far less than 25 to 54 year olds. Factor in the pitiful amount of savings and you have an ongoing spending implosion.

  • The propaganda machine was so well oiled, the savings rate actually reached 1.9% in 2005, as the masses all believed they would live luxurious retirements off their home equity windfall. How’d that delusion work out? The current level of 5.6% is seen as troublesome by the powers that be. They cannot accept the crazy concept of saving and investment when their entire warped paradigm is built upon borrowing and consumption. Banks don’t make money when you save and they despise when you use cash. They can’t sustain their opulent lifestyles without their 3% VIG on every electronic transaction, 15% compounded interest on the $5,000 average credit card balance, billions in late fees for being one day late with your payment, $4 on every ATM transaction, and the myriad of other fees and surcharges designed to bilk you and keep you from saving. The saving rate will continue to climb as people have no choice to make up for years of living beyond their means.
  • Hilsenrath is willfully ignorant as he pretends to not understand why the American people will not or cannot accelerate their spending. It is really quite simple. Even a PhD should be able to understand. Real median household income was $52,300 in 1989. Real median household income today is $51,939. The median household has made no economic advancement in the last quarter of a century. And this is using the manipulated lower CPI figure. Using a true inflation rate would show a dramatic decline over the last 25 years. There has been virtually no wage growth during this supposed six year recovery. The industrial base of the country has been gutted, except for the production of arms to blow up brown people in the Middle East. Young people have $1.3 trillion of student loan debt weighing them like an anchor, and those Ruby Tuesday waitress jobs and Home Depot cashier jobs aren’t going to cut it.

  • So we have the demographic dilemma of aging, under-saved, over-indebted Boomers who are being forced to spend less. We have an over-indebted, under-employed youth who don’t have anything to spend. And lastly we have the 25 to 54 year old age bracket who should be in their prime earning and spending years who are still 4 million jobs short of where they were in 2007 before the Fed induced financial collapse. The only age bracket to gain jobs since the crisis has been 55 to 69, as they have been forced to work to make up for their lost interest income. The only people making job gains are those least likely to spend.

  • The spending crescendo in 2004 through 2007 was fueled by the Greenspan housing bubble and the $3 trillion of mortgage equity withdrawal used to buy BMWs, in-ground Olympic size pools, Jacuzzis, vacations to Tahiti, home theaters, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, and boob jobs, by delusional, apparently brain dead Americans who fell for the Bernaysian propaganda spewed by the Wall Street criminal class, hook line and sinker. The majority of shell shocked underwater home owners have been unable to sell since the housing crash. A 35% price decline will do that. The Fed has created $3.5 trillion out of thin air, more than quadrupled their balance sheet with toxic mortgages from Wall Street, artificially suppressed interest rates to bring mortgage rates to record lows, and was a co-conspirator along with Fannie, Freddie, FHA, and Wall Street hedge funds (Blackrock) to delay foreclosure sales and pump home prices with their buy and rent scheme. The result has been unaffordably high prices, mortgage applications at 1997 levels (60% below 2005 levels), first time buyers at a record low, and a non-existent housing recovery – despite the MSM propaganda saying otherwise.

  • The last data point which might help the math challenged Hilsenrath understand why you aren’t spending is total U.S. vehicle miles driven. The chart below shows a relentless climb from 1982 through to the 2008 collapse. It coincides with the debt fueled consumption orgy over this same time frame. The unrelenting expansion of retail outlets and importing of cheap Chinese crap required a lot of trucks to haul the crap. It required a lot of trips to the mall in the minivans and SUVs by soccer moms living in our suburban sprawl paradise. In case you hadn’t noticed, the fastest growing retailer in the U.S. since 2008 has been Space Available. The well run retailers like Home Depot and Wal-Mart saw the writing on the wall and stopped expanding. The badly run retailers like Sears and JC Penney have been closing hundreds of stores. And the really badly run retailers like Radio Shack have gone bankrupt. Vehicle miles have essentially flat-lined for the last six years as retailers are closing more stores than they are opening, job growth has been non-existent and commerce within the U.S. is stagnant. If we were experiencing a real economic recovery, vehicle miles would be surging.

So this concludes my little tutorial for the Ivy League educated central bankers at the Fed and the Wall Street Journal Fed mouthpiece – Jon “I don’t understand” Hilsenrath. I know it is difficult for people to understand something when their paycheck depends upon them not understanding it, but this is pretty simple stuff. Pompous, arrogant, egocentric assholes who write for the Wall Street Journal, run JP Morgan, or control monetary policy for the world, know exactly what they have done, what they are doing, and who is benefiting. We all know the benefits of ZIRP and QE have gone only to the .1% who run the show. We know income inequality is at all-time highs. We know TPP will be passed, because the corporate fascists control the purse strings of our political class. We know the status quo will be maintained at all costs by the Deep State.

We know mega-corporations continue to ship jobs overseas and replace us with cheap foreign labor. We know the current administration actively encourages illegals to pour over our borders, swamp our social safety net, increase crime, and take jobs from Americans. We know the government has us under mass surveillance and will not hesitate to use all of that military equipment in the hands of local police against us. The will of the people is nothing but an irritant to those in power. They might not have us figured out, but a growing number of critical thinking, increasingly pissed off people, have them figured out. The debt expansion days are numbered. A deflationary depression is in the offing. The coming civil strife, financial panic, war, and overthrow of the existing social order will rival the three previous tumultuous upheavals in U.S. history – American Revolution, Civil War, Great Depression/World War II. Fourth Turnings are a bitch.

Hopefully I’ve explained the situation to the satisfaction of Jon and Janet. The mood in this country is darkening by the day. There is no going back to the good old days of yesteryear. They are long gone. No amount of debt issuance and propaganda is going to work. The system is overloaded. The people are angry. The politicians are captured. The banking elite are ransacking the nation for every last dime they can get their grubby little hands on. The military industrial complex is itching for war with Russia and China. The world hates us. If you can’t see it coming, you are either blind, dumb, or an Ivy League educated economist. So go out and spend to make your slave owners happy.

 

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Mon, 06/15/2015 - 20:49 | 6200189 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

Who can forget George Bush during the 2008 'crisis' telling "We the Consumer" all is well.....just get our ass to the local mall and shot till we drop because we're Americans and that's what Americans do.

Oh...wait...he also said that right after 9/11 as well. I see a pattern here.

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 21:06 | 6200245 Oldwood
Oldwood's picture

Consumption is job one. Another reason why so many are "unemployed".

We have been conditioned to lust for consumption, and that has been reinforced with rationalizations like,,, with inflation, we should buy now before its cost exceeds our willingness or ability to pay, or, its "new" and wonderful and cool and is just exactly what I need for everyone else to recognize how wonderful and cool I am.

Like all narcotics, it loses its power over time requiring ever greater doses for "effectiveness" until we either overdose and perish (go bankrupt) or just lose all desire for anything. I think this is where we are now.

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 21:27 | 6200289 ILLILLILLI
ILLILLILLI's picture

The answer is....Mandatory Consumption. If you don't spend 'X' dollars each month, the government just takes the balance out of your account anyway.

Guess I better throw this in there: /sarcasm

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 21:35 | 6200302 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

Wages flat to dropping, aging population, young'uns living in parents basements with few good job prospects, high debt loads everywhere you look, new and increased taxes on everything under the sun.... I can't imagine why people aren't out spending like crazy right now.

 

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 22:01 | 6200369 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

Until WS Banksters are flying out of skyscrapers, I ain't buying.  You want my money? earn it!

 

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 22:31 | 6200461 sodbuster
sodbuster's picture

I'm a self employed white dude and I'm working my butt off, and spending like crazy- trouble is, the first $7500 is for my health insurance. Then we have my wife's to pay for. Then there's food, taxes and all the other crap it takes to live. No, I won't be spending for any iStupidgadgets any time soon. Although, I would like more ammo, and dried food.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 03:32 | 6200942 gladius17
gladius17's picture

I'm making $7500 a week blowing goats online. What, you aren't?

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 07:02 | 6201041 espirit
espirit's picture

I'm interested.

Any particular type of Goat?

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 12:50 | 6202288 Trogdor
Trogdor's picture

I'm a self employed white dude and I'm working my butt off, and spending like crazy- trouble is, the first $7500 is for my health insurance

Sodbuster, you seriously need to look into Liberty Health Share (as does anyone who's tired of paying for insurance company exec's trips to Cancun and teenage BJ's) - insurance is such a freaking rip-off....

 

I am a dedicated consumer  - I do my part - I buy ammo every month.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 09:50 | 6201416 funthea
Mon, 06/15/2015 - 22:18 | 6200428 Kprime
Kprime's picture

Obamasumption.  You have to read it to find out what's missing from it.  If you don't consume the IRS will fine you at the end of the year. You must provide receipts with your tax return.  The receipts must total more than your income to show that you are doing your patriotic best to help grow the debt and save us from deflation.

Do Sumption Today!

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 00:20 | 6200709 Nutflush60
Nutflush60's picture

Do not give Warren any ideas

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 05:34 | 6200987 WhatIsTheTrade
WhatIsTheTrade's picture

+1

I can't help feeling that it has a ring of truth to it regardless of the /sarcasm.... How F-ed up is that?!?!

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 21:42 | 6200327 itchy166
itchy166's picture

The world doesn't produce much that's worth buying anymore either... 

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 20:55 | 6200211 dreadnaught
dreadnaught's picture

but but...without shopping/consuming/breeding.....there is no purpose in living!

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 21:07 | 6200246 MonetaryApostate
MonetaryApostate's picture

When banks go criminal, hold up the cash flow, and tell everone to buzz off, what do you expect?

Enjoy your engineered economic terrorism...

(But this will backfire in the faces of the elite, who have grown slothful in their duties...)

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 01:07 | 6200799 RevIdahoSpud3
RevIdahoSpud3's picture

You forgot the sarc tag?

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 20:59 | 6200217 knukles
knukles's picture

Excuse me, but I'm lost.  Could you please point the way to Mayberry RFD?

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 21:09 | 6200250 Ralph Spoilsport
Ralph Spoilsport's picture

"There's a signpost up ahead"......maybe it points the way out of the Twilight Zone.

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 21:49 | 6200345 TheFourthStooge-ing
TheFourthStooge-ing's picture

.

"There's a signpost up ahead"......maybe it points the way out of the Twilight Zone.

And now the crustiest bit: all roads lead to US citizenism.

Ideas, debate. One has to forget about them in US citizenism. US citizenism shows the path.

The ship is going down but thanks to US citizens, there is no other ship.

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 22:10 | 6200392 Teknopagan
Teknopagan's picture

There is a choice... Pixley or Hooterville?

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 22:33 | 6200466 TheFourthStooge-ing
TheFourthStooge-ing's picture

Reminds of the time when Hooterville seceded from the state after blowing up the bridge over Simpson's Swamp.

Chancellor of Crabwell Corners and President of Stankwell Falls tried to ease tensions with the Pixley-2 Agreement.

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 20:59 | 6200226 Oldwood
Oldwood's picture

Maybe, just maybe, there is just nothing left to buy worth trading our souls for.

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 21:01 | 6200229 stormsailor
stormsailor's picture

it appears that everyone else is watching loony-liberals (new cartoon) over on the other thread

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 21:01 | 6200233 Irving Phelps
Irving Phelps's picture

Vote with your feet! Cancel your fucking subscription to the WSJ!

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 21:12 | 6200258 Seasmoke
Seasmoke's picture

Vote with your fist. Punch Hilsenrath in the fucking mouth. 

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 21:39 | 6200315 jim249
jim249's picture

Who here can afford the WSJ?

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 06:52 | 6201034 BoPeople
BoPeople's picture

They gave it to me for free for 6 weeks at the beginning of the year. I think I pulled it out of the plastic bag twice and was disappointed both times.

There is no need fort the WS Urinal.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 10:51 | 6201662 Colonel Klink
Colonel Klink's picture

It's best used at lining for the birdcage.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 09:05 | 6201285 John Law Lives
John Law Lives's picture

The WSJ and MSNBC can both go away.

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 21:05 | 6200240 lester1
lester1's picture

Reaganomics baby !!!

 

Debt is good.. Greed is good !

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 08:20 | 6201136 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

Check this Fred Chart. It shows Credit less than 100% of GDP till 1985 (R. Reagan). Now we are at 189%.

Private Credit by Deposit Money Banks and Other Financial Institutions to GDP for United States
2011: 189.51640 Percent (Data only goes to 2011)
Annual, Not Seasonally Adjusted, DDDI12USA156NWDB,

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/DDDI12USA156NWDB

I still have to look for other causes of Credit Growth, but basically we know the Banks profits have gone up from the Interest and Fees related to credit (Profit Motive, Maximize profit & revenue)

Not sure what legislation might have been part of it.

The Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 21:05 | 6200241 Thick Willy
Thick Willy's picture

The lessons learned from serious financial hardship can last a life time, not just a few years.  Look at the people who came out of the Great Depression, they were "extremely frugal" until their last days.  These elites have never had to worry about where their next meal was going to come from.  They never looked at their last $10 bill and had to decide whether it was going to put gas in their tank or food in their belly.  They can't understand how much of a shock it is when a person's very existence is threatened due to lack of resources.

That's really all it comes down to.  The economists and the journalists come from upper-middle to upper class families and they have never experienced anything remotely resembling hardship so they simply do not comprehend its impact on people.  Maybe they can dig up some psychological studies on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Frankly most of the people at the top would have turned to crime long before they found themselves in such dire financial straights.  In fact, crime is their way of life.  They don't understand that normal moral people can end up destitute and not turn to crime.  This is another thing that baffles them.  When poor people become criminals it makes the elite happy because it reinforces their belief that having money makes one morally superior.  They always tell you that poverty drives people to crime, which is quite insulting if you think about it, because it shows that they believe money is a prerequisite for moral existence.

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 21:55 | 6200361 Earl Slaughter-...
Earl Slaughter-- Truck Driver.'s picture

Poverty, in many places in USA, might as well be a crime-- as the saying goes, a rich man will never be arrested for sleeping under a bridge or for stealing a loaf of bread.

 

Look at how fines are levied for common offences-- traffic for instance. Some say it's fair that everyone pays $60 for a parking ticket, because everyone is paying the same amount. But isn't the point of a fine punishment? Who's punished more: the clown who can drop $60 on a few rounds of martinis at noon or the poor slob who's buying store-brand and reduced-price items so the kids don't go to bed hungry?

 

Money or lack thereof does not make a man-- who and what we are is based on the actions that we take in lfe. But the monied have been getting a free-ride for much too long now, and history has not been kind to a minority of people faced against hungry and angry masses.

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 23:53 | 6200652 tarabel
tarabel's picture

 

 

I read once that the traffic tickets in Finland are pro-rated for your income.

So the rich guy can get one for 100,000 Finn Bucks or whatever they use.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 17:43 | 6203412 gladius17
gladius17's picture

In Antarctica, there are no traffic tickets, or cops.

No food production either, but give me a nuclear reactor and that problem is solved.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 10:52 | 6201667 gimme soma dat
gimme soma dat's picture

This goes beyond those who grew up in the Great Depression.  I'm now in my 30's but I grew up with my parent's asinine financial hardships.  There was no food in the cupboard and the constant threat of losing the house, fighting divorce, etc.  Even now, the idea of taking on debt makes me nauseous.  

When I went to college I was the only one not taking frivolous student loans.  As a young adult I clipped coupons and knew the best happy hours.  I still don't have a big screen TV and very little debt.  I've tolerated a number of eyerolls and indications that I am cheap.  I guess I am, I'm also not a slave to my creditors and there's a lot of freedom in that.  

Most people rarely learn the lessons I did even after job loss, bankruptcy, etc.  It's normal to take out debt to live beyond your means and the person who doesn't do it is the odd one out.  It's all fucking crazy.  

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 21:06 | 6200244 yogibear
yogibear's picture

Hilsenrat and Wall Street Journal elitist can go to hell.

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 21:11 | 6200255 Bobbyrib
Bobbyrib's picture

The fake outrage is pretty hilarious. Although Hilsenrath may be serious which is quite scary (in a sociopathetic sort of way).

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 21:16 | 6200266 Sanity Bear
Sanity Bear's picture

Anyone else notice that the increase in welfare-as-income almost precisely matches the loss of interest income? 6% each.

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 21:20 | 6200274 suteibu
suteibu's picture

Redistribution, a promise the black messiah made to his followers.

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 23:47 | 6200636 NihilistZero
NihilistZero's picture

The redistribution of income and wealth to the asset clan under Bush/Greenspan was far more odious. Unless you owned your home pre-2001 or bought the post bubble did your biggest fixed cost, shelter, has been relentlessly inflated by the FED and .gov. Obama isn't shit, but if all these self serving Boomer assholes hadn't fallen for the faux Housing Bubble prosperity and given us 8 years of GWB the mullato presidency doesn't happen.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 08:18 | 6201153 overmedicatedun...
overmedicatedundersexed's picture

nihilist, as a fellow ZHer answer this: How many times did you vote for the mullato?

my take on the redistrobution, was it really did work for the middle class prior to 08, and that could not stand ,ergo 2008. after 08 only the elite got the benefit and that was not an accident.

of course i also think 911 was not a plan by goat hearders in the mid east, so what do I know.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 20:31 | 6203955 NihilistZero
NihilistZero's picture

my take on the redistrobution, was it really did work for the middle class prior to 08,

Then you're a fucking idiot who didn't live in the real world.  Maybe a RE broker who was living high off all the dpreciating fiat the faux-economy was shifting your way?  So yeah, you're wrong.

And you ARE a fucking idiot.

With no principles.

Because apparently redsitrivbution is okay as long as it works for you.

Prick.

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 21:18 | 6200269 new game
new game's picture

excellent summation and reality rant. not even sure it is a rant but merely a truth sermon to anyone that has a fcuking brain that works. oh my oh my, that leaves 70 percent out of the mix. guess it is up to the 5 percent that might still care and would do something other that type on blogs.(like the war for independence)...bitchez...

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 21:44 | 6200278 stormsailor
stormsailor's picture

i think we should implant c4 inside those little eggs with pager connected to them.   then you could auction off the chance to dial the number to blow up whichever eliteist you choose.  give the money to a real charity.  i bet the chance to dial corzine's number would go for several hundred thousand.   blankfein's would probably fetch a high price, diamond,  mozilla. the list is endless. we could pay off the national debt with all the funds we could raise.  ps i saw this trick in a movie Man on Fire.

 

ps, the egg is buried in the rectum of the elite.

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 21:23 | 6200279 Niall Of The Ni...
Niall Of The Nine Hostages's picture

The 30,000 know all this. Hence the stock buybacks paid for with Fed-confetti. They're cashing out like there's no tomorrow, because they know there won't be. They plan to be far away when real wages plunge 50 per cent, life expectancies by fifteen years and white birth rates to near zero. They know the party is almost over. They don't care, as long as they don't have to pay the bill.

Put it this way. The plug was pulled on the 30,000's experiment in central planning in 1991. Only a generation later has Russia been restored to anything like her former economic and political glory---never mind the living standard on a par with Germany or Britain ahe might have enjoyed by now had the Bolsheviks not been appointed Russia's slavemasters.

And Russians who couldn't stand to watch as their country fell apart and rich thieves from the ends of the earth walked off with what remained of Russia's wealth had places they could go---the US, Canada, Israel. Where will Americans go when the banksters decide to leave Uncle Sugar to his fate?

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 21:23 | 6200281 Bemused Observer
Bemused Observer's picture

I'm buying and selling plenty. Just not in a way that's gonna show up on anyone's radar...

And that's the way it's gonna stay...

Fuck yer fiat, I've got my own economy...

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 21:25 | 6200285 new game
new game's picture

saw a "ready for Hillary" bumper sticker; the fucking end is in clear sight. prepare NOW!

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 23:21 | 6200586 Miffed Microbio...
Miffed Microbiologist's picture

I have to admit, I'm about ready for her too ( God help me). If any one person could catalyze the melt down, it's got to be her. Would be Damn nice to see that smug look on her face in a basket.

Miffed

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 23:28 | 6200599 Free2Speak
Free2Speak's picture

That bumper sticker should have a picture of someone tied to the railroad tracks.

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 21:33 | 6200297 CHC
CHC's picture

Wow - this article actually took my breath away.  Fantastic RANT - so true!!

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 21:37 | 6200310 GotNuttin'todo
GotNuttin'todo's picture

Maybe we are all sick and fucking tired of nothing working or lasting anymore. Maybe we get pissed off at the batteries in our proprietary apple cell phones only lasting a year and having to buy a new phone because you can't even replace the fucking battery anymore. Maybe I get pissed at having to get Windows 8 just because nothing works anymore with Windows 7 that I just bought a few years ago. Maybe I get pissed at having to buy a new weedeater because they don't make a $2 replacement part anymore. All this planned obsolescence has me so fucking disgusted that I'm not buying squat unless I can eat it, smoke it, chew it or drink it. Screw the proprietary apple bastards.

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 22:08 | 6200385 Kprime
Kprime's picture

kudos dude.  I had to go read your post to my wife after first swearing, hand to god, I did not write it.  I am so fucking disgusted with suppliers today.  I am hanging on to every old tool and item I have with NO INTENTION OF REPLACING THEM EVER. 

I think the muther fuckers are literally spending money on engineers who are instructed to figure out how to make an item that absolutely must fail after (pick a number) 3 uses.  If your part does not work right out of the box but fail after 3 uses, we will replace you.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 06:27 | 6201019 BrightBlueSkies
BrightBlueSkies's picture

So true. I haven't updated my Windows 7 for a while now, but I stopped to late, my once super fast PC can barely bring up a browser window anymore. With nothing but a browser running I gotten used to turning the PC on, starting the browser, and going for my morning coffee, it takes that long. Another true story, my wife and I got the same verzion motorola razors, we let the 2yr plan run out and go month to month (don't you know that must piss them off), she regularly updates her phone while I refuse to do so. Her phone can barely make a call now it takes so long, running an app? forget it, and the battery 'dies' in under 4 hours while doing nothing! My phone regularly asks to do 18 updates, lasts all day, and is still somewhat fast. I work in software development, it is not hard to 'slow down' an operating system if you have no ethics.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 18:13 | 6203440 gladius17
gladius17's picture

I feel your pain brother. I would not have said that slowing down of the browser was due to no ethics, but come to think of it, that's exactly what it is. The people today who patch and glue software together (not deserving of the term "engineer", or even "programmer") do not give a fuck about doing things right. Everyone wants to make a billion dollars from some fart joke app, but nobody wants to put in the real work to make something that's actually worth using.

Get on an internet forum and tell them your idea which fixes everything. You will be laughed out of the room as a fool, if one single part of "the way we currently do things" has to be changed....because everyone knows the future is going to be exactly like today, only more and more of the same, and anyone who strays outside of that way of "thinking" is a moron. Until he makes a billion dollars, then he's your best buddy and oldest chum going waaaay back.

Go into some IRC channel or chat room where the "developers" of a certain piece of software hang out, and start listing all the shit that's wrong with it. You'll get nothing but excuses why it has to be that way. They don't give a fuck, and can't be bothered to change. They'd rather blame you for "holding it wrong", than to critically evaluate themselves and their pile of shit they've created. This is the same pattern you see everywhere, in anything.

Computer too slow? "Buy a faster processor, more memory, SSD hard drive etc." Wait, I already did that though. My computer has TWO processors in it, each capable of countless BILLIONS of operations per second, along with four BILLION bytes of ram and a solid state drive, but the fucking pile of shit still slows down to a crawl under the lightest of loads and most trivial of requests, with the CPU maxxed out at 100% for hours at a time, so that it takes literally 10 fucking seconds to select some text and have it highlighted, or even accept keyboard input. What the flying FUCK? And the "solution" is just to throw more hardware at it?

(That's Firefox for ya. The dikes and faggots who've taken over Mozilla are far too focused on their pet "social justice" garbage to ever, you know, develop good software.)

We have reached a point where the tools of the past (programming languages, compilers, debuggers, etc) are obsolete. We need to be able to prove that software is correct, and does what it says it does. That is the problem my team is working on. When you see what we've come up with, it will blow your mind. The entire world may be going to shit around us, but there is hope for computing yet.

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 21:43 | 6200329 lasvegaspersona
lasvegaspersona's picture

My 15 yo son wants nothing and expects nothing. He is happy with his computer.

My 31 yo daughter has seen her college education do nothing for her but get waitress jobs.

I continue to work past retirement age as I am the only one in the family able to pay the bills.

I expect to get nothing from Soc Sec and the kids don't either. 15.2 % paid in for 50 years and finally I'll get screwed. The whole family will be the victims of the monetary system....Boomers, Millennials and youngsters. The screwing will be spread evenly I'm sure. I won't get my entitlement and the kids won't be supporting me in my old age. Good thing we love to work and hate spending.

I just hope the kids computer doesn't break.

...and tip your waitress...it could be my daughter.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 10:18 | 6201540 teutonicate
teutonicate's picture

Well put.  But don't give up hope.  We will need all three of you when we come out the other side.

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 21:46 | 6200335 MATA HAIRY
MATA HAIRY's picture

this post reminds me of the angry monologue by The Lord Humungous in The Road Warrior.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2gVXd7FzhQ

 

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 21:48 | 6200340 wendigo
wendigo's picture

As I lie here, fiddling on the interwebs while I wait for my sleeping pills to kick in, something occurs to me. I am a man of hope. I believe that somehow, some way, everything will turn out all right. I can read an article like this, or a hundred like this. I can see the figures, the argument, the irrevocable conclusion that we are fucked, that the universe is turning sour, that the future is unimaginably dark. And yet I still have hope that things will be ok. 

 

Maybe I'm a dreamer, or maybe just delusional. I don't really know anymore. I've changed, since I first came here many years ago. Back then I was young and naive. Now I am older, cynical, bitter. Wiser? Maybe. I live my life to prepare for some great cataclysm, saving the dollars, storing the beans, waiting. Always waiting, for a future that may never come. Sometimes I fell like I should turn away and party like it's 1699, but if I do, that's when the future creeps up and gets me. 

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 22:35 | 6200472 Phoenix901210
Phoenix901210's picture

The stock market will crash, the elite will run out of money to protect themselves and they will either do something really stupid or be overcome by the masses.

Then we will have the 'Illuminati tribunals' and the release of technology, equality and knowledge that will enable us to live in a world more wonderful than any of us can imagine.

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 22:45 | 6200497 blazinrabbit
blazinrabbit's picture

Find someone to love forever and drown in the desire to fill your lovers every need.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 00:10 | 6200691 James
James's picture

Wendigo, try not to let the bastards grind you down.

When I think of all the worries that people seem to find

And how they're in a hurry that complicates their mind

By chasing after money and dreams that can't come true..........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lRWXHomzF0



Mon, 06/15/2015 - 21:50 | 6200347 Troy Ounce
Troy Ounce's picture

 

Congratulations! Well written.

 

 

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 22:00 | 6200363 essence
essence's picture

When I saw the word "Cheetos" I first though Kunstler.  I suppose Jim Quinn would have been a 2nd guess.

Come on Jim, The elite are always a step ahead of Cheetos eaters.
That article of Hilsenraths wasn't tonque-in-cheek, more like taunting it was.

Taunting as in "what ya going to do about it now that we've got Jade Helm in place to kick your butts if you ever,ever ask for "more".

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 22:00 | 6200367 Dutch
Dutch's picture

Sounds like it is time to start fudging the consumption totals (even more).

There! All fixed.

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 22:08 | 6200370 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

this smacks of a newspaper that has lost all relevance to the people. the mr. bumble style written dressing down of the lumpen is just a desperate bid to engage the public on any level whatsoever, even negative. when only the 0.00001% read your propaganda rag it gets pretty lonely methinks. either that or the elite just love mocking their victims.

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 22:20 | 6200431 zerofever
zerofever's picture

Please pay all our bills first then we buy your crap.  Seriously what are they thinking.   Obamacare took everybody spendable cash prob already and wonder we don't spend any money. 

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 22:56 | 6200538 Reaper
Reaper's picture

NO is the most powerful word. It's my choice, not yours. All government power depends on mass obedience.

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 23:24 | 6200593 Youri Carma
Youri Carma's picture

The rat on the hill hence Hilsenrath will learn very soon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yI1hjITn8Q

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 23:58 | 6200662 tarabel
tarabel's picture

 

 

I'm doing my part to spend, spend, spend.

Every opportunity I get to turn fiat money into useful capital goods and inventory merchandise, I jump at it.

The day will come when what you have in your pocket will be all you get to start over with.

And it's coming soon.

Mon, 06/15/2015 - 23:59 | 6200664 flyonmywall
flyonmywall's picture

Fuck spending. I've stopped even buying undewear. It's all made in fucking Honduras or Vietnam. Apparently, the country that put a man on the moon can't even manufacture its own underwear now.

When all my underwear falls apart, I'll freeball it before I buy any. Fuck the fed and the economy. I ain't buying squat. I have just about everything I need, and I'm growing my own vegetables too, slowly expanding the garden every year. Soon, I'll get some chickens too, organically grown and all that shit.

 

 

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 00:28 | 6200727 22winmag
22winmag's picture

Don't even get me started on the "moon landing on a movie set" scam.

 

Man has been in orbit but damn sure hasn't passed through the Van Allen radiation belt and lived to tell about it.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 11:18 | 6201803 gimme soma dat
gimme soma dat's picture

A while back I bought a couple packages of underwear for $10.99 each, regular price.  I thought that was expensive but I had coupons.  A few months later I decided to buy more and the price was up to $16.99.  

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 00:23 | 6200715 kchrisc
kchrisc's picture

At some point propaganda becomes complicity.

The guillotines await the guilty.

Liberty is a demand. Tyranny is submission.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 18:21 | 6203545 gladius17
gladius17's picture

"At some point propaganda becomes complicity."

The very beginning.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 02:17 | 6200878 Nostradumbass
Nostradumbass's picture

The corporate mainstream media is now visibly angry with the American people for not doing what the Ivy League propagated Keynesian academic models say they should be doing.

Fock ewe!

We will save our $ and allow them to devalue before supporting the ponzi any longer and IF we spend , it will be towards your end...

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 05:19 | 6200983 Weisbrot
Weisbrot's picture

sensationalism, fear mongering, and information that seems accurate (but isn't always). just like the main stream, only different.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 06:52 | 6201035 J J Pettigrew
J J Pettigrew's picture

This is simple...

INITIALLY when rates fall, there are those consumers who will run out and buy and borrow.

When they get maxed out, when the credit card balances peak, even they stop consuming.

The other consumers who DO NOT BORROW remain prudent and rates do not affect their consumptive habits.

SO...ZIRP has an initial pop, then it has no affect on consumption..

Corporations will use the ZIRP to borrow and retire their stock....an economic impact only good fro CEOs and indexes

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 06:58 | 6201037 messystateofaffairs
messystateofaffairs's picture

Mr. Quinn the tone of your missive is a tad impolite and not considered appropriate for fine impeccably dressed gentlemen possessing Ivy League educations. Please address pshychopaths in a respectful manner.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 07:16 | 6201054 teutonicate
teutonicate's picture

Very well written post, Mr. Quinn.

We are witness to a world-wide genocide of white people at the hands of the cabal.

The crimes that you have identified and more will be required to awaken our people.

Our solace is that when we finally awake, no quarter will be given to the perpetrators.

 

 

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 07:20 | 6201060 fremannx
fremannx's picture

Declining consumer spending and increased savings are exactly the behaviors expected at the beginning of a deflationary depression. Just more proof that deflation has begun to consume the world...

http://www.globaldeflationnews.com/inflation-vs-deflation-part-1which-on...

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 08:22 | 6201139 teutonicate
teutonicate's picture

I have read the link referenced in you blog post, and I thank you for posting it.

One of its central tenets is that deflation, not inflation is the next expected outcome resulting from the abuses by the fed.

The link's argument goes, that since we have already experienced massive inflation, deflation is the next step, since we are "tapped out" and have insufficient buying power left to support higher prices.  While this may true to some degree, he neglects that fact that the 1% still have buying power for a while when things begin to unwind (more about this later). He also argues that gold prices will drop along with the drop in financial assets (that we agree will occur).

What I believe that he fails to recognize is that it is precisely the loss of confidence in currencies controlled by corrupt central banks that will, in the end, tip the system over.  In order for massive deflation of tangibles like precious metals to occur before we experience massive inflation, the people will have to believe that fiat currencies represent sound stores of value.

Past deflationary depressions could rely on this money illusion and the illusion of sovereign solvency held by the populace.  In my view this money illusion is now gone because of the widely publicized abuses of the cabal.  In this scenario, people will prefer to hold PM's, not fiat, and while certain earnings and dollar denomination dependent asset classes may deflate dramatically (stocks and bonds for example), certain tangibles such as precious metals, may actually dramatically increase in value as people flee from assets of uncertain value to assets that history have been shown to hold their value in times of strife.  The article assumes that the 1% are all-knowing, and they will not panic into gold as things start to unravel.

To make the argument that we are headed for a deflationary depression, and that precious metals will follow paper assets denominated in fiat lower, assumes that the people will value fiat when they know the credit worthiness of the sovereigns that issue it is gone - a false premise.  You cannot simultaneously argue that fiat issued by a government has value, AND then argue that the same government is unable to ever repay its debt - the author makes a circular argument.

Hyper-inflation (which I am not necessarily predicting, although I am more confident predicting dramatic inflation than dramatic deflation) tends to be the norm when the economy is weak and multiple governments are competing to make their economies more efficient by devaluing their currencies.

In order to predict that precious metals will follow stocks down, you would also have to assume that none of the elite that currently "over-own" stocks, based on the QE supported buying frenzy of the past few years will shift even a modest portion of their portfolios to PM's when the system starts to come unglued.  Even if the elite were to shift 10% of its assets away from stocks, in an attempt to diversify as things correct, this would result in a massive increase in PM prices.

I think that you are underestimating the greed, crowd nature and arrogance of the cabal as well.  I think that they will knife each other in the back as things unwind, and the "silent oath to protect fiat at all costs" will collapse.  Also, remember that there are a lot more Chinese that are overextended in their equities markets than there used to be, and they LOVE gold.  At some point they will probably figure out that converting some of that inflated equity value to gold "at the top" will be awfully tempting when that market starts to unwind.  Paper markets for PM will not dominate physical forever.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 11:54 | 6202028 moneybots
moneybots's picture

"One of its central tenets is that deflation, not inflation is the next expected outcome resulting from the abuses by the fed."

 

Inflation and deflation do complete a cycle.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 12:45 | 6202272 Toolshed
Toolshed's picture

Since deflation is the mortal enemy of the central banks, they will stop at nothing to prevent it. Here is my prediction, fwiw, we will experience a short bout of mild inflation (which we are already seeing the signs of). It will be short due to the fact that the central banks will panic (again we are seeing the signs of that as well) and, as usual, over react. The printing presses will go into hyperdrive and the central banks will get exactly what they want.......inflation. Of course things will then get totally out of control and we will all be Weimar citizens at that point.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 07:43 | 6201088 deimos178
deimos178's picture

baby boomer here, fully employed and we have saved for retirement and have about $700,000 plus guns, gold, silver, live frugally and don't have any debt. What the hell is wrong with us? Why aren't we more like the Jones? I live near a small city surrounded by decent hard working people, we avoid the large urban areas solely because we don't need the stimuli anymore and my daily experiences with the public tells me everything will be ok after our government finally gets the message. The message is someone 2,000 miles away doesn't know what is best for me, but unfortunately that message won't sink in without a very harsh lesson happening to them.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 08:01 | 6201127 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

I remember South Korea telling it's people to stop using Credit and pay off their credit cards, specifically pointing to Young people spending too much on Credit.

USA would never do that since we learned to be just like the English, be unscrupulousness, be merciless, be predatory.

Take a look at US Credit to GDP and clearly we have been in a Credit Bubble for over 12 Years. We spend too much.

Credit Bubble Territory is obvious in 2003 at 50%.

Bank Private Credit to GDP for United States
2011: 55.47615 Percent (Data spans from 1961 to 2011)
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/DDDI01USA156NWDB

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 08:49 | 6201233 d edwards
d edwards's picture

the economy sucks, but taxes paid to fed gov continue at record high rates.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 09:16 | 6201254 teutonicate
teutonicate's picture

In general I agree with your post, but.

Just remember as you post, that based on what you just described, statistically you are the 1%.

Unless we know how you got your $700,000 debt free, and why you still have your job when so many other smart, highly qualified, high work ethic people don't, you may not necessarily be in a position to lecture the average American.  Based on what you said alone, we can't tell.

Maybe the reason you have $700,000 and the other guy doesn't is because you never fought the corruption of the system in any way, and he paid the price for doing so.  Maybe you are one of the ones that always "goes along to get along", never pushed back, and as result, are partly responsible for the condition of our society now.

While this may not be you, there are a number of people in our society now that got to your position by corruption or simple good fortune (inheritance for example), not necessarily extraordinary effort on their part.

For example, there are a lot of triple-dipper government bureaucrats that probably have the same net worth and comfort as you do now.  They also think they worked hard and deserved everything they got.

Are we to hold them up as not being part of the problem?

Not trying to be critical of you per se, you may be an icon of humanity, but let’s all agree to keep it real.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 09:39 | 6201379 Toolshed
Toolshed's picture

You both make good points. Let me point out that by the time you retire and are ready to deploy your $700,000 retirement savings, it will likely not fill a small grocery cart even one time. Convert the majority of your pretty green toilet paper to hard assests like PM's, or get royally screwed. It's your choice, but I would advise you to check out what the really big boys are doing with their pretty pieces of paper.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 09:42 | 6201388 teutonicate
teutonicate's picture

Thanks for your feedback.  If you check out my other post below, I think you will see that we agree.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 10:18 | 6201542 deimos178
deimos178's picture

I can't seem to convince my wife to go all out on PM's but our parents were children of the depression and listening to the stories our grandparents told us sunk in after a while. Basiclly save your money, don't go into debt, pay cash for as much as possible. We got into this position the old fashioned way, by being frugal, buying good used vehicles, cooking at home, living close to work and not having an extravagant lifestyle and investing 10-15% of our pay into what we think are fairly secure funds. but yeah, since we have trained our selves to live simply, if and when it collapses we'll really not suffer the shock most of the public will. We look at it this way, we are comfortable with ourselves know what we can do and know how to take care of each other. That's more than most can say. It's still not to late to prepare.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 12:37 | 6202244 Toolshed
Toolshed's picture

There are other assets to consider, but they don't fit in a suitcase and are less liquid. One I would suggest is undeveloped rural real estate. Preferably with, or near, a fresh water source. And, the farther off the beaten trail, the better. Undeveloped equates to low purchase price and very low taxes usually, and if chosen carefully, can offer a potential hiding place if needed.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 18:01 | 6203482 teutonicate
teutonicate's picture

Thanks for you comments, and thanks for taking my thoughts in the spirit that they were intended.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 15:38 | 6203027 LooseLee
LooseLee's picture

That's right. If you are not part of the SOLUTION (starving the beast and negating the status quo at all levels), you are part of the PROBLEM. Also agreed that, in a physical/survival sense, it is not possible to be 'out' of the system 100%. However, a high 75-80% rejection of the status quo would be required to no longer be part of the problem IMO...

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 10:01 | 6201459 roadhazard
roadhazard's picture

You would think Big Business would at some point and purely by accident stumble over the thought that Americans have no money and no credit. End of story unless wages are raised and credit is loosened. Have a Jubilee and let the good times roll.

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 10:14 | 6201525 BigSwingingJohnson
BigSwingingJohnson's picture

many of us (real patriots) are saving our cash to buy loads of ammo.

 

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 11:51 | 6202011 moneybots
moneybots's picture

"Consumer debt currently stands at a towering all-time high of $3.4 trillion, almost ten times the $350 billion level in 1980."

 

It's a ten bagger.

 

 

Tue, 06/16/2015 - 20:50 | 6204014 Faeriedust
Faeriedust's picture

Ummmmm . . . I followed the link the first time this column was referenced and read the original.  I do believe it was intended as "snark", although the joke was in pissed-poor taste.

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