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Is This America's Biggest Problem... And Why It Wasn't Always Like This
The inflation-adjusted household income for half the US population is back at 1989 levels. Meanwhile the S&P500, which impacts the net worth, confidence and spending habits of about 10% of the US population is six times higher than where it was in 1989. America has a problem.
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Of course, it doesn't have to be like this, and in fact: it wasn't.
... and then Nixon took the US off the gold standard.
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No, America's biggest problem is that it's devolved into a state that arrests 14 year old kids for building clocks.
"and why are YOU so interested in TIME?!!!!!!!!!!"
Turn out the lights. We're done.
pods
building clocks is like a gateway drug...into terrorism - need a clock if you're building a time bomb.
I graduated in 2000. I has so many troubles with my teachers because I was to commercial.
Teachers are the worst people in this world because they believe their way of life is the best and are actually so out of this world that most shouldn't be allowed to even speak against a child.
Public servants and teachers. 2 types of people that really need to earn my respect because those are the only people I distrust from the beginning.
No, America's biggest problem appears to be that even smart and aware people fall like suckers for a contrived, calculated political stunt that appeals to their personal prejudices.
But my MyRA is up today...it's all good.
No shit. I actually had someone text me today saying the market was functioning better today.
I just got a mail that said that this is the time to get into the market :)
there is no problem whatsoever.
this is what the Federal Reserve and its special friends among the banking community intended.
Opportunity for biggest theft in history of mankind.
They took it.
Designated fall guy -- Yellen
Waiting in wings "designated" savior -- Fischer....
Next plan on drawing board -- convince world they will save us while cementing enslavement
excellent succinct analysis.
Unwashed - Right. Blame Granny Yeltsin and the house servant negro, Obama.
Former Bank of Israel head Stanley Fischer was appointed Governor of the Bank of Israel in January 2005 by the Israeli cabinet, after being recommended by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Fischer became an Israeli citizen but did not have to renounce his American citizenship, which he obtained in 1976, despite it being a pre-requisite for the job.
He had been involved in the past with the Bank of Israel, having served as an American government adviser to Israel’s economic stabilization program in 1985.
Over the last few decades every Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, the most powerful banking institution on Earth, have been dedicated Jewish tribalists who have supported Israel as well as international Jewish organizations serving the interests of Zionists.
To think that they would not use the incredible power of FED over the currency and other markets of the whole world – to advance the interests of their fellow bankers and brethren would be the height of naivety...
Recall that Marx wrote in 1843 that the basis of Judaism is practical need or self-interest, the worldy religion of the Jews is huckersting, and the Jews' god is money.
He also asserted that "Christians" had become "Jews", and that the emancipation of Jews was the emancipation of "Christian" society from Judaism, i.e., huckstering and the worship of the Jews' money god.
One can argue that "Christians" are even more "Jewish" than in Marx's day in that the self-interest, huckstering, and worship of the money god dominates the western zeitgeist.
Jews faithfully serve their money god at The Temple of Wall Street and are rewarded handsomely for their efforts, overwhelmingly disproportionately so.
Thus, the West is clearly in need of emancipation from Jews' huckstering and worship of the money god.
I've worked with many Jews and they all did seem to be fixated on money. Not in the 'not buying their round' kind of way (like the Dutch) rather that it seemed to be their all-consuming passion and motivation.
It's a fiscal problem, not something a monetary change can fix.
When is the FED going to put this back on our elected officials? Certainly not this term.
Its for the middle class can be filed right next to the other frequent lie...its for the kids.
Let in 20 million illegals and then wonder why wages dont go up..
mandate health insurance and tax the sh!t out of everyone....viola
It is somewhat misleading (if not disingenuous) to show "inflation-adjusted household income" without "inflation-adjusting" the level of the S&P 500.
It wouldn't materially change the result, but at least it would be a valid "apples-to-apples" comparison.
The Pareto distribution is ubiquitous, you will never be able toget rid of it. About the best you can do is to change the constant in the exponent.
America's biggest problem that it is a fascist, police state run by a troika of the military, Wall Street and spooks
Who rules America?
The secret collaboration of the military, the intelligence and national security agencies, and gigantic corporations in the systematic and illegal surveillance of the American people reveals the true wielders of power in the United States. Telecommunications giants such as AT&T, Verizon and Sprint, and Internet companies such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter, provide the military and the FBI and CIA with access to data on hundreds of millions of people that these state agencies have no legal right to possess.
Congress and both of the major political parties serve as rubber stamps for the confluence of the military, the intelligence apparatus and Wall Street that really runs the country. The so-called “Fourth Estate”—the mass media—functions shamelessly as an arm of this ruling troika.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/06/10/pers-j10.html
Snowden's documents revealed that the NSA spies on everyone:
The most extraordinary passage in the memo requires that the Israeli spooks “destroy upon recognition” any communication provided by the NSA “that is either to or from an official of the US government.” It goes on to spell out that this includes “officials of the Executive Branch (including the White House, Cabinet Departments, and independent agencies); the US House of Representatives and Senate (members and staff); and the US Federal Court System (including, but not limited to, the Supreme Court).”
The stunning implication of this passage is that NSA spying targets not only ordinary American citizens, but also Supreme Court justices, members of Congress and the White House itself. One could hardly ask for a more naked exposure of a police state.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/09/13/surv-s13.html
"America's biggest problem that it is a fascist, police state run by a troika of the military, Wall Street and spooks"
Right, but our fascism has a shiny, happy face and lots of social mania distractions, not that there's anything wrong with that.
Big Brother is not a brother but is racially/etchnically/religiously diverse and gender non-specific, and to invoke the image of Goldstein is politically incorrect, i.e., anti-Semitic.
See how much nicer our utopian dystopia is.
Hey Yellen, you bitch!! Raise those fucking rates already.
why? elderly are fine eating cat food.....they don't need their savings to earn anything. better the bankers use it and amass multi-generational wealth. I mean we really have to take care of the elites first after all.
and, let's face it, there more offerings in the cat food segment than ever! many are even 'organic' - so, i agree - what's the BFD?
More organic cat food is among the better reasons to raise the overnight reserve rate I ever heard. I might even buy some of the canned delicacy to enjoy with my feline companion while watching Bloomberg awaiting the non-decision decision by the Fed.
Life is purrr-fectly good, except for the hairballs.
cat food too expensive....do food is cheaper
Venturen - No no no! You buy the big bag of dry at food at Sam's Club, pur in bowl and add tap water for insant Gravy Train.
The future is now:
https://www.soylent.com/
Just don't ask what it's made of.
How come the rich people have all the money, it's not fair!
:-P
The rich really are different: they actually don't have to pretend to care about us losers.
That's a luxury.
But I'm not envious or anything.
Eat the poor.
No, they are for organ harvesting. Ask Planned Organharvestinghood
Myself, I prefer slow-roasted leg of Thai infant, but only the breast-fed infants. But I have yet to find the right wine pairing.
Thought for sure we would have a least received a Martial law threat before the big day...
Yes, the stock market is America's biggest problem.
Eliminate it and you eliminate the other problem as well.
But that raises the Jewish question, as Marx did 170 years ago, and the huckstering and worship of the Jewish money god persists to this day.
And, yes, "Christians" are even more "Jewish" than Marx asserted was the case in the mid-19th century.
Shalom, you Jesus-loving self-loathers, you.
Why no adjustment on the S&P for inflation? Comparison not dramatic enough then ???
Raise Tariffs.
Is this Amerweica's biggest problem...no.. don't think so...America's bigest problem...we eat too much, were overweight, we only exercise if we belong to a gym, we are in debt over our head (ie words we do not live within our means), our political system is suspect, we continue to blow things up in other countries, our government finances are in trouble, ..we can't even stand up straight in public..we slouch...I think we have an image problem...
Not that there's anything wrong with that. 'Merika, love it or leave it; that is, if one can afford the one-way airline ticket.
I wonder what these stats would be for other countries?
BTW - it is not a zero sum game - You don't have to bring rich people down to bring everyone else up - and you sure as hell can't redistribute your way to prosperity.
Factor those graphs with real inflation.
Before Bill Clinton fucked up the calc.
Stop restating the past.
Eff the US middle class! we got a four billion asians, africans and latin americans who can work in our overseas factories for a nickel a day. Who's gonna buy what they make? We don't know, but we save on production costs a lot!
We can't "compete" with foreign slave labor, the invasion of "uninvited guest workers", AND robots and AI, so that means robots and AI have to become consumers, which in turn means that they will consume the bulk of materials and energy at such efficiency that the costs per capita of human needs for subsistence will be prohibitive.
But the good news is that there is a huge surplus of human ape meat, so when the robots and AI take over and the top 0.001% owners fully retreat into their Elysium-like enclaves and compounds on or off planet, there will be plenty of hungry people and lots of human ape flesh for the most adaptable apes to feast on.
It's a matter of taste.
Notice how it spikes during Clinton and Obama's admin.
Really? Did everyone ignore the period between 1910 and 1940? Look again at the last chart. Nobody is going to give any credit to the rise in incomes of the bottom 90% from 1940 to 1980 to The New Deal, social safety nets, technological innovation, etc. that occured after the Depression and WWII? Really? Nobody wants to talk about tax policy and how it relates to the above article (i.e. shitty Reagan)? If any of you believe we should bring back the gold standard, then I have to believe you work at Wal-Mart or McDonalds. No serious person in finance, business, or ecnomics would make such an assertion.
says it all:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-02-01/how-central-banks-cause-income-...
I am in a shopping mall with my 7 year old grandson killing time. I admit I spend very little time in malls but I am astonished at the sheer amount of useless crap people waste their money on.
Over priced candles, over priced soaps, build your own bear and if I hear the theme from Star Wars one more time I'm going to jump from the second floor to my death.
When the money runs out and you're figuring out how to buy food and make the mortgage, who's going to buy all this crap?
Most of the crap is purchased by females who spend ~80% of household spending in the US.
With 20-50% of income going to the top 1-10% and consumer spending of ~73% of GDP, that means the spending of females in the top 1-10% makes up 30-35% of GDP. In order for the economy to grow at least 3% nominal and ~2% real, these females have to increase their spending 6-8% YoY.
If they don't increase their spending (and/or their spouse's income) on that useless mall crap, the economy doesn't grow.
This is an example of the US economy becoming increasingly "feminized" since the 1970s-80s when women entered the labor force en masse in gov't, health care, education, retail, and financial services, sectors that have become a net cost to the rest of the private sector. A large share of consumer spending is associated with women working for pay in order to be able to afford to work for pay, i.e., additional auto, wardrobe, child care, etc.
But the net aggregate effect on consumer spending and "(un)economic growth" from women entering the labor force en masse peaked in the 1990s, which is a primary reason why real GDP per capita has halved since 2000 and more than halved again since 2007, and full-time, private-sector employment per capita is at the level of the mid- to late 1980s.
Peak Boomer demographic drag effects are now a permanent constraint on growth hereafter.
Notice a shallow scope of investigation here.
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- 1980s rise in 10% Income does correspond to Globalism, Outsourcing, Offshoring, transfer of Technology from the USA overseas, concerted attacks on US Jobs and Middle Class
- 1990s rise in 10% Income does correspond to Fast Track Authority for US President to approve WTO, NAFTA, China as full member of WTO or as most favored nation status, Deregulation of Banking, Evolution of Derivatives
- 2000s rise in 10% Income does correspond with Unlimited Money in Politics, Global War on Terror, Exponential Growth in Black Budget Spending and MIC-Security-Prison Spending
1992 - Energy Policy Act (H.W. Bush)
1994 - NAFTA, Deregulation of Trade, 3 Nations (W. Clinton)
1994 - Free Trade Begins to Devastate US Manufacturing Jobs,
1996 - Energy Deregulation (W. Clinton, followed by ENRON Scandal)
1996 - Telecommunications Act (W. Clinton, cross ownership)
1998 - Clinton's Kosovo War (over 60 Days)
1998 - Citicorp & Travelers Insurance Merger
1999 - Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act (Phil Gramm, W. Clinton, followed by 2008 Financial Crisis)
1999 - bombing campaign in Kosovo (W. Clinton, over 60 days)
2000 - Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 (P. Gramm, W. Clinton, derivatives)
2001 - Afghanistan War
2001 - Subprime Home sales & Financial Derivatives Take Off,
2002 - McCain–Feingold Act (G.W. Bush, Campaign Finance, soft money unlimited)
2003 - Iraq War, Fake Evidence of WMD
2003 - Govt Refuses to Collect Data on Cost of War for Iraqis
2005 - Energy Policy Act (G.W. Bush, subsidies, excluded clean air Water acts)
2005 - Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA).
2005 - CAFTA-DR Ratified, 2006 El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala
No - America's biggest problem is it's Zionist Occupational Government.
"My greatest flaw. I surround myself with idiots."
- Victor von Doom
Cue another fellow from the Mises Institute to try and explain their way out of this one and blame it all on Keynes.
That rising arrow, from the 40s to the 70s. That was the era of Keynesian economics and highly regulated capitalism. Those two things are the mortal enemies of the Austrian School, despite the clear evidence that they work well.
That era ended in the 1970s to be replaced by Post-Keynesian economics and neoliberal capitalism. The arrow heading to the right. An era of deregulation, privatization, globalization and financialization that has rapidly returned the world to the ugly state of inequality found prior to the world wars and will end the same way.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Rise-Fall-Neoliberal-Capitalism/dp/0674725654
So who were amongst the people that spear-headed the overthrow of Keynes and coined the very term "neoliberalism"? Why Hayek and von Mises of course.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism#Early_history
They got their way. Governments have been pro-cyclical (the very opposite of Keynesian) since 1980. Everything has gone to shit and the fucking Mises Institute shills try to say its because Keynes is still in charge and we just need more neoliberalism to fix it.
Or they try to blame it on the loss of the Gold Standard, claiming that this was due to their co-conspirators, the Chicago School Monetarists, and that everything would be fine if we just went back to it while keeping the rest of neoliberalism. Well no, this is not about the Gold Standard at all. That loss was a symptom, an inevitable casualty of the drive to overthrow regulated capitalism, which included "liberating" the money supply. Its loss came with the END of the Keynesian era.
These are the facts. The Mises Institute crackpots are full of shit, that's another fact. Bringing back Keynesian, counter-cyclical, regulated capitalism would be an improvement.
Better yet, listen to the Germans who were right to criticise neoliberalism right from the start and had a clearly superior idea, as evidenced in its implementation:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_market_economy#Rhine_capitalism
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordoliberalism
i've said it before, I'll say it again: the Austrian School of Economics is a preferred choice of the 1%. Inequality and plutocracy is just fine with them, "natural elites" you see.
The earth is expanding!