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The Rise Of Trump & Sanders - Distrust & Anger Ripples Across America
Authored by Paul Brandus, originally posted Op-Ed via MarketWatch.com,
The ‘wasted generation’ may not bother voting, for good reason
One year from now, we’ll elect a new president. It’ll be the first opportunity for what I call the wasted generation to vote - not that many will bother. What do I mean by wasted generation?
I’m talking about the 15.6 million Americans born between 1995 and 1999 - the first generation of the post-World War II era to grow up in a land of diminished economic expectations, corrosive cynicism and institutional distrust.
Think about it. Born during the petty, partisan end of the Clinton era, they were barely out of their diapers when the towers fell on 9/11 and elementary, middle school and high schoolers while their country fought, at the same time, the two longest wars in its history. They came into the world just as their parents’ incomes were probably peaking — median wages, adjusted for inflation, topped out in 1998 and 1999 — and their Moms and Dads have since been squeezed by the two most devastating stock collapses since the Great Depression and a housing collapse of historic proportions. Now they’re heading off to college or already there, and can expect to rack up nearly $29,000 in debt before even graduating.
Older Americans may remember better times. But for this group—and tens of millions born after them—it’s all they’ve known. Cynicism, war, economic stagnation—this is their “normal.” This is what we have bequeathed them. Is it any wonder polls show that young Americans don’t trust government or big corporations? They don’t trust organized religion. They don’t trust us—the media—either, and I don’t blame them.
They don’t trust the financial system, either. When you’re 20 and have a 40-to-50 year investment horizon, you should be plowing cash into stocks—but when the market crashes 50% like it did between March 1999 and October 2002—only to be eclipsed just five later by a 57% bloodbath, it makes it easier to understand their skittishness. No surprise, then, that anti-establishment candidates like Democrat Bernie “the markets are rigged” Sanders and Republican Donald “make America great again” Trump are popular with this young, emerging slice of the electorate.
On Facebook, for example, nearly two million people like Sanders’s page — 600,000 more than Hillary Clinton. As for Trump, one poll showed Republican millennials backing him by a 3-to-1 margin over anyone else.
This may sound like one of those generation gap stories, where older folks complain about the “kids” doing their own thing and the kids not trusting “anyone over 30.” It’s not. From sea to shining sea, distrust and anger ripples across America: Only about a quarter of us think the country is on the right track; it hasn’t topped 50% since December 2003.
But it’s the corrosive effect on the millennials that’s most bothersome. Based on two decades worth of data, the Pew Research Center, a respected Washington think tank, notes that “generations carry with them the imprint of early political experiences.” In other words, it’s going to be awfully hard for millions and millions of young Americans to overcome the wide distrust they have—and again, the only thing they’ve known—of establishment institutions; the economic and political implications in the years ahead could be huge.
Here’s the way millennials see it:
Those that can scrape together the means to go to college know there’s now a school shooting once a week in this country.
Thanks to that average $29 grand in debt and uncertain job prospects, an increasing number of them will move back in with Mom and Dad when they graduate.
Invest in stocks? Even if millennials didn’t think the market was fixed they don’t have the dough.
Buy a home? What a joke: the number of first-time home buyers is at its lowest level in three decades.
Only a handful of these kids will have steady employment with the same company over the course of their careers; many will have multiple employers — few of which will offer pensions.
Millennials don’t expect Social Security to be around in 40 years and unless painful changes are made to shore up the system, it won’t be.
The slow-moving and undeniable effects of climate change will affect them far more than the rest of us; and while we bicker about the cost of action, we’re too ignorant to realize that the cost of inaction is likely to be far greater.
Older age groups like to criticize millennials: they’re spoiled, have a sense of entitlement. Actually, the rest of us should look in the mirror. We’re leaving those who will follow one hell of a mess.
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Millenials don't trust government? Good.
Government is a barbarous relic.
>not voting for Trump just to see what happens
Fuck it man, you only live once.
Bernie Sanders: Because it's easier to have the gubmint forcibly take money from other people to give to you than to work to provide for yourself.
Waking up to go to work is HARD!!!!
This article has some good points, and then The author sneaks the global warming bullshit in there. The only way global warming is going to harm anyone is when the government starts making things like energy insanely expensive to fight a nonexistent problem.
He then Speaks as though young people having a distrust of government is a bad thing. It's not. It's great news. I cheer for anything that furthers this distrust. Maybe if a new generation trusts government less, they won't be so inclined to let it run so many aspects of their lives and won't expect this corrupt edifice to provide everything for them.
And any kind of growing support amongst young people for Bernie sanders means they really really want moar government, so at least in the case of those young people, I'd say they trust government way to much if they want him in charge of it, because a sanders presidency will give you A LOT moar government in every single aspect of your life.
"The slow-moving and undeniable effects of climate change..."
Lost me right there...
Guilty as charged, as I just farted.
< Trump
< Saunders
A little late but what they hey...
"Millenials don't trust government? Good"
Sure, but they will support a Big Government guy in Bernie Sanders. Just like the anti-establishment kids of the 1960's who hated .gov and the war, those very same "kids" are now todays baby boomers who are ramming the biggest peice of shit government down everyone's throats.
Stupidity rules. How about we try FREEDOM and LIBERTY???
"How about we try FREEDOM and LIBERTY???"
Dude... Talk like that, supporting the U.S. Constitution and the like, will get you on the terrorist watch lists.
" We distrusted some folks. "
My friends aren't worried about Social Security being around in 30 years. My friends are worried about anything being around in 30 years.
Tell them to cheer up - when everything collapses most things will be a lot cheaper. :)
If electric grids are destroyed, the modern world ceases. Finance, water, heating, etc. All gains from economies of scale would be immediately wiped out.
Things will not be cheaper - they will be worthless; except for the necessities of life, like crops or livestock.
Farmers guard your fields...
I mentioned that at the end about sanders. Kind of funny that the author claims they don't trust government and then uses that to explain why they like sanders. What other entity other than the government could tax everyone and then administer all those new welfare programs and hand out all the free shit?
For that matter, how can anyone say they distrust the government and want trump to run it? Trust me, trump ain't gonna make it any smaller, either.
Personally, I kinda liked the Paul/kucinich ticket. . .
"Guilty as charged, as I just farted."
Well, you do have that certain air about you.
Carl, I'm glad that you and others caught the Global Warming insertion.
This is a primary tactic of the communist/Bolsheviks: They will attempt to gain your trust by conceding certain points, and then subvert the good in the message with utter tripe.
The author is also wrong in putting Sanders on par with Trump. The two can be described as 'outsiders', that is true, but this is a tenuous commonality. Sanders has been a career politician and quite honestly has proven little creative, industrial, or organizational ability.
Trump on the other hand has a proven record of at least envisioning and calling into being large building projects.
Critically, Sanders represents the US equivalent of ANTIFA faggots who hate their fathers, their culture, and lack any ethnic of hard work. Trump does appeal to 'conservatives' and 'moderates' fairly evenly. He is the closest thing we can get to in the US to Third Position economics.
Sanders is useful because his level of support tells the powers that be how strong a Bolshevik socialist presence there is in America. We are not quite as far gone as the communistic shitholes of Latin America, but unfortunately we are trending in that direction.
In sum, the author is dead wrong in suggesting that Trump and Sanders are somehow of the same cloth. What the two are doing is bringing out a clearer picture of how the populace breaks in terms of support for the hard Left or for Nationalism.
Care to comment on President Putin's 28SEP15 climate change speech?
Your analysis fails to point out that, critically, the ROW no longer really gives a fuck who your puppet-in-waiting is.
Sure, my comment is that he paid lip service to it in the same way he cannot come right out and say the Israelis just blew up a Russian commercial jetliner.
Part of life is picking your battles. So he placated a bunch of leftist post moderns at the UN. Would you can to comment on Putin's recents comments given in Russia discussing how global warming is a fraud?
Regarding Trump, he is the best option out there and is the polar opposite of Sanders the communist. Given the media attacks on Trump, and the Tribe uniting billions of dollars behind Rubio, I'd say that the powers that be don't want, at all, a President Trump.
People are supporting Trump and/or Sanders because they are fed up with all three branches of gubmint. With crap like, "If you want to keep your insurance you can keep it" and the hundreds of other lies vomiting out of DC. The fact that people like Jeb can publicly claim his brothers disaster in Iraq was a success and not be laughed [or hissed] off the podium or called out by reporters shows how screwed up our nation is right now and why people are desperate for someone to save them.
Enter Trump and Carson.
Middle Class Americans are slowly waking to the biggest punking over in history.
I know to some young folks, more gov't jobs would be welcome indeed.
Nobody here gets the > thing bro. Not many chantards here. Although there are a few...
And, yea, I'm voting trump for the lulz and 'cuz fuck it, why not? Can't be worse than the Obomination and will be far more amusing.
Hillary might do damage beyond repair.
All the motherfuckers are all for her. The media decided she'd be the president 2 years ago
Trump will do damage beyond repair.
I fixed that for you.
Even if one still regards the "Electoral System" as credible, voting this time around might not be meaningful.
1. Increasing inequality (rising GINI coefficient) leading to polarisation.
2. Increasing unavoidable taxes (Obamacare is a tax despite the rhetoric. Being "obliged" to pay up front for "Insurance" that comes with very hefty deductables is "not" insurance!)
3. Increasing "real" costs. The "Real" rate of inflation is far higher than the "Hedonically adjusted" one. Shadowstats is but one useful guide to reality.
4. National Debt: Not $18.5 Trillion, more like $66 Trillion (Unfunded liabilities are still liabilities).
5. "Civility" being replaced by "incivility", and a National hardening of the attitudes to those regarded as "outsiders".
6. Known, and flagrant abuse of position / power by the "Better Connected"
7. Crumbling infrastructure, and neither plans nor "money" (Ha, Ha!) to replace it.
And to top it all, the MIC are planning to start yet ANOTHER war, this time with Russia / China / Whoever seems a "threat" to their comfortable system
Time to sit back, enjoy the (not yet Nuclear) sunset, and wait for the microwaved popcorn to be ready . . .
Trump would never fund "moderate rebels". That alone is a good enough reason.
Albert einstein said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over then expecting a different result. The stupid fukn voters have been electing and reelecting over and over over corrupt, self centered career politician miedras and look where the country is today regarding debit, FSA getting benefits that far exceed the median income of hard working tax paying US citizens, illegal beaner flooding across the southern border to get free sh*t - manay of whom are felons several of which have killed tax paying US citizens and since 2008 a country more divided along racial, social, economical, religous and political lines and trampling of the Constitution by all three branches of the government.
Time to elect a non-career politician President.
As for the corrupt elected ruling political elite turds....
"Wake up. Time to die." Leon in Blade Runner
https://thinkpatriot.wordpress.com/2015/11/10/a-measure-of-propagandas-p...
https://thinkpatriot.wordpress.com/2015/11/10/were-still-going-to-be-here/
I find it so amazing that nobody in our Status Quo even seems to notice anything amiss. Called my Congresscritter the other day, managed to hold my temper for once and gave them a concise lecture about where in the historical cycle we actually are, and how often ruling elites miss the signals that they should have resigned and moved to foreign countries. That was one of the rare times when I can speak well. They thought I was crazy, made it clear that nobody else thought that way.
MSM doesn't see anything amiss, appears to believe all the lies about the economy, yet I interpret the world as being inches from the edge and reeling. Someone is crazy.
https://thinkpatriot.wordpress.com/2015/11/09/oil-is-the-excuse/
https://thinkpatriot.wordpress.com/2015/10/27/ignoring-the-absolutely-in...
That last one has the key : very soon, people are going to stop loaning the government money. That is the wall, and already the Fed is buying most of the treasury debt. The government is holding up the stock market, the bond market.
By accident, those 4 recent posts summarize the world's state quite well. Madmen running foreign policy of the most powerful nation on earth on behalf of religious interests In controlling a nation, promising to leave that nation with no military at the exact point of maximum number of enemies with maximum hatred for us.
Dangerous people, Israeli-Neocons. Responsible for 100s of 1000s of deaths and 9/11. They appear to have cowed the entire professional officer corps and all of the intelligence officers in 17 intelligence agencies, because those groups have done nothing to protect their country beyond publishing some histories of how Feith et al rammed the Iraqi war through. Never a mention of 9/11 as anything else but a terrorist incident. In fact, everyone associated with government is very silent on that topic, it seems to me. When is the last time you heard anyone defend the 9/11 Commission report?
https://thinkpatriot.wordpress.com/2015/10/20/lebowski-enlightenment-7/
Interesting pattern of public opinion data on 9/11.
I am a millenial, and I am sick and tired of the failed status quo. I want a better life for myself and my future children. Bernie Sanders knows how to protest, but he is weak and does not know how to execute the way Donald Trump does.
I am voting for Trump because he wants to bring our jobs back from overseas, end NAFTA, and kick out the illegal immigrants. A vast majority of Americans want these things to happen. Hopefully Trump wins the Presidency.
I support Trump for one reason and one reason only. It's the ONLY reason you can really trust, that hasn't been bent, distorted, or manipulated by the bought and paid for MSM: The Republicans hate him. So he has to be real, at least about some things he says. Beyond that, you're waist deep in MSM bullshit.
If you really believe that about trump, I can get you a great deal on a used bridge....
Dudes whole life required him to play ball with the tribe, and they think he's going to turn it around to kick them out? They are all tribe advocates, every single one of them. The tribe controls the elections.
He's the only one in politics that has screwed the tribe members good and hard.
What do you think those corporate bankruptcies were? Signs of love and admiration?
They were bankers getting to package up bad debts and having their boy Trump default on them for some $$ or options under the table. Insurance fraud is a huge thing in that circle. The tribe has always played the insurance fraud game. Insurance like Banking is one of their rackets they "invented". Why do you think those assholes own mansions on the coast where Hurricanes are known to wipe them out? Because it's like a second stream of income and you get a free house on the beach out of the deal. That you the layman pay your home insurance ensures that they are going to be covered.
It doesn't take a genius to see what they did.
It's all the tribe, and everything they do is to benefit of the tribe. You either play ball or get excluded. The NWO isn't coming, it's been here since the end of WW2. They are just starting to be open about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9P_2HqWRhU
Communism won the Cold War on the day the UN Charter was signed. They won WW2, which was nationalism versus globalism. The US has been under foreign occupation since the late 1800's.
You Millenials don;t know trump too well. He is a sneaky clever businessman. research how many companies he has bankrupted and how many vendors and contractors he's screwed over his career. You will be amazed. Now he has a chance to do it on a national scale.
Sanders is not much better. taking from the rich to give to the poor does not solve fundamental problems either.
What you need to do is start a 3rd party that represent you otherwise it will only get worse. Good luck
Try & explain to these Milenials the False Right / Left Paradigm & watch their heads explode.
Try it with any age group - same results.
Agreed. Wait What is a Millenial also, but he sees through Trump's bullshit. Apparently Lester thinks Trump is 'not part of' the status quo. A guy who has made his name in the media and made his fortune from the current system is nothing short of the status quo. That the MSM color both Sanders and Trump as 'instigators' who speak 'uncomfortable truths' is propaganda 101. There is only one way to put an end to this disgusting crony capitalist system, and no one is going to like how it happens... so everyone will keep going along to keep getting along.
Take a look at the kids Trump raised. That should tell you something about his values. Now take a look at the Hillaryious family. "I can't understand why anyone wouldn't love my mother." - Chelsea Clinton. Vote the "D" column. "D" for dysfunctional.
Look at it this way, it's only a matter of time before the US stiffs its creditors, and Trump knows how to stiff creditors. He has experience with what will need to be done in the next 4 years.
BTW, when do we get an option for "none of the above?" I would rather go back to a system where anyone could schedule a meeting with the President if they wanted because he had no power, and didn't matter in daily life. That would be the only type of President I would vote for.
Donald Trump decided to wade into the Starbucks cup "controversy", and in doing so, further showed that he is not unlike Hillary Clinton in one way: Pandering - or saying anything - for votes.
You still don't get it.
But, don't feel singled out...seems you're in the company of 130M other voters who fancy their votes carrying weight on a Federal level.
There is nobody who is running who I would actually want to hold the office, so I will be voting for none of them, Trump included. I'm not going to choose the "lesser" evil.
Me neither. I'll probably go vote, with my head held down in shame, just because they are ALWAYS trying to sneak in some kind of half cent sales tax hike or some such bullshit "for the children" and I would rather not give more of my money to the shitheads who run our public schools. But other than that, ya, not falling for anymore 'lessor of two evils' nonsense either. Look how well all that evil has worked out for us ....
Not voting is not the answer El Vaquero. Even if you think it's rigged you still should vote. This "lesser" evil thing is a mistake, once you stop voting it means you've just given up. Don't give up.
Seriously? You want a better life? Then work for it.
All of you lost Millennials need to consider doing what we did in the 60's abd 70's to prepare for today. The only way is to separate from the herd mentality. The millennial lemmings are only going in one direction so don't be too stupid to realize it.
No way to change the world or to avoid the wars and major depression that's coming to the x, y, & z's so use those declining decaying DECADES to work on yourself to change yourself, maybe avoid falling off the cliff with your mates, and begin prepare for a life when things are on the upside again.
If the world were a simple mechanism, a machine, and it worked the way you think it works, your idea could work.
The world is not a machine, it is a very complex system of systems of systems, all open to influences from every source, all evolving, all chaotic. Strong and central action is exactly the last thing we need, we need to abolish our government and allow us ordinary folks to figure out what needs done and how.
Donald Trump will be the worse President ever, as every one has been in my lifetime, because it is a broken system. You don't fix broken systems by changing the face of the leader of one kayfabe faction of puppets.
Using the term ‘Millennials’ means there is intergenerational warfare.
Lending legitimacy to the entire charade isn't worth the effort.
I'm not a Millennial, but I play one on teevee. LOL
If Sanders isn't the Democratic Party nominee, there is a very strong chance that I won't even vote.
Bullshit. Sanders isn't even really running for president. His sole purpose is to bring the disenchanted dem voters back into the tent. You and every other stooge who falls for his bullshit will be passing out Hillary campaign literature before this is over.
wow. fucking retard
The future is going to be a much less enjoyable place than the past. Gratefully, I will be worm shit, but all of you who have to endure it have my sympathy.
Millennial here. Trump is no Ron Paul. Ron Paul could have actually restored america to what it was meant to be. Trump can only make me laugh as the world burns. And build a wall, for the lulz. And possibly kick out some Mexican and el Salvadoran criminals.
Oh, and the younger millenials support sanders because they think he will forgive their student loans. Young, dumb, poor people are always clamoring for socialism. I kind of wonder how ridiculous it would be to have a beta male Jewish communist as our president. Hard to imagine. Basically Obama without the skin tone.
"Oh, and the younger millenials support sanders because they think he will forgive their student loans. Young, dumb, poor people are always clamoring for socialism."
Ahhh... I was wondering what it was. Makes sense.
Maybe the younger millenials are becoming big government fans - as seen by the "racial justice" agitators?
Generation X'er here. War's over Jhonny. "All we have left is Ponzi & PsyOp." Enjoy the eminent Collapse.
imminent collapse or collapse of the eminent? either way, good point.
Thick Willy alright!
The war is never over Chupacabra-322 , until it's over perhaps one day.
Regarding this article, the way I read the demographics is that approximately 28% of the total population is Gen X voters..
Going all the way down to 10 yr. old millenials the % is 26.4, 6.6 % 10-14 and 6.7% presently 15-19.
6.6% are below them in age today.
http://populationpyramid.net/united-states-of-america/2015/
My point is once again Gen X is being ignored on purpose.
The economic warfare is hitting us hard as well, thanks Krugman.
We are far from done, I guess it will just take some time.
The Generations of Men: How the Cycles of History Shape Your Values, Your Idea of Manhood, and Your Future... http://www.artofmanliness.com/2012/07/12/the-generations-of-men-how-the-...And yes, we are actually contemplating solutions to this insanity.
I have millennial cousins. The ones that haven't fried their brains with drugs have unrealistic expectations of striking it rich by designing sneakers for rappers.
Out of my four millennial cousins three have just graduated college and the other one goes next year. None of the ones that graduated have jobs better than working at Starbucks and they live at home in the basements.
"[...] unrealistic expectations of striking it rich by designing sneakers for rappers."
That's at least marginally better than unrealistic expectations of striking it rich by becoming rappers.
As a millenial, I will strike it rich by building a factory to produce cannabis (marijuana) that is more efficient, productive, and versatile than any other agricultural system invented to date by the human species. I've already designed it and I already know that it will work as envisioned. The next step is to find a well connected partner, and then investors. I'm looking forward to moving out of this trailer park.
voting...
hilarious.
Hillary has so many Democrats fooled. It is amazing to me she is winning in the polls, given the fact she's a known liar and under FBI investigation.
What has Hillary ever accomplished for the middle class ? Black peoole adore her, bit what jas she ever done to help them?
The worst thing about Hillary is she takes in millions of dollars from Wall Street donors. She's nothing but a puppet for the 1% and Wall Street.
I expect voter turnout for Hillary to be extremely low. There is no way she will get the same turnout Obama got.
Whoa, dude! Don't you dare take any polls seriously. They're even allowed to lie about polls. After all, a poll is just an opinion.
The country nees another lying cheating Cunt-on as much as the country needs a third term with the lying cheating fudgepacker.
You lost me at Climate Change fool.
As far as climate change goes, nothing the government does is going to change it. They just want to profit off whatever direction it goes in. For instance, carbon credits. It's OK to continue to produce carbon, as long as you purchase the rights to produce it. Al Gore gets rich, the carbon is still there. How the f-ck does that produce any meaningful change to what's happening to the climate? It's total bullshit. So whether you believe in climate change or not, or whether it's really a problem or not, it doesn't matter, because it's not the govenment's goal to fix anything that actually affects climate. Add to that the evidence about climate meddling Dale Wigington has produced, and now you know for sure they're full of it.
The Biggest "Tell" on Climate Change is, the Government is all behind it 100% gung ho as being the most important mission on planet earth (Meanwhile Fukushima rages on without a peep from anyone, and our open borders somehow makes sense with our 'War on Terror' ). That's proof right there it's all bullshit ...
All you have to do with climate change is see what they want to do about it. A global tax on carbon emissions. Doesn't really sound all that scary to most people, simply because most people are really, really stupid. But what emits carbon? ALL economic activity. So what they propose is a global tax in everything. Once you get to the actual goal - a bigger cut of our money to waste on themselves and "redistribute" as they see fit, it all makes sense. It has nothing to do with global warming or any of that shit, that's just what they use to sell it to people, since just admitting what they want without the window dressing sounds bad.
Plus, look at our governments record on human rights. They claim to care about people's well being and lives? If that was true they wouldn't have killed so many innocent people around the world. And if Leftists really cared about our children, they wouldn't be making them pay into bankrupt Ponzi schemes like social security so they can retire in comfort.
Farting emits carbon. Maybe the stoopud fukn gubmint turds will tax farts as well.... fukem. fukem all.
"One year from now, we’ll elect a new president."
Wrong! One year from now you'll CONSENT (Black's Law Dictionary) and vote for another Criminal CEO UNITED STATES, CORP. INC. Fraud to head the Board of Trustees aka CONgress.
C'mon Tyler stop playing the badass and pouring oil on the fire.
The populist vote and middle class anger has to be channeled to constructive solutions or else the status quo continues its mad march off the cliff.
Don't make the mad populists sound like the saviours. its the wrong spiral.
Understanding Causality has to be the basis to the solution. If you know the deep down problem you can tell the ground swell from the froth of vacuous posturising; which seems the main focus of the mad dogs of white middle class here at the Forum as they see the caravan of US politics pass them by.
Nothing good ever comes of populism, right or left variants included.
i seem to remember a certain anti taxation without representation disagreement led to a populist movement a coupla hundred years ago that lasted mostly intact until 9/11.
If you think any of that stuff was "remotely intact" until 9/11 then you have A LOT of reading and learning to do.
Hey wait a minute there fella....
how do we solve the problem of ignorance in the causality equation?
history is telling us that the masses fall too often for the demagoguery.
Sanders is a fool. The most votes he ever got in an election was just over 200,000. Vermont wants him. They can have him.
>>The slow-moving and undeniable effects of climate change
Undeniable? Really? The only thing undeniable is we don't have a remote clue on this highly politicized topic that's being talked about in some circles like its as assured as gravity.
That may be putting it a bit too strongly. I certainly do have a clue. Want to hear the real truth about climate change? Humanity has been actively changing the planet's climate for the past 3 million years. That's how long the planet has been going through glacial cycles...which are man made.
(What, you thought it was a coincidence that the planet just suddenly started going through glacial periods only in the past 3 million years, after a 4.5 billion year history of no glacial periods--other than a couple noteworthy exceptions traceable to such origins as massive meteor strikes, etc--coincidentally coinciding with the beginning of man's evolution from primitive creature to hominid?)
Trace things back to their root, and you find that the invention of fire is the causal factor. Current thinking seems to suggest it was invented at least 1.7 million years ago. I'll go ahead and let you know that humanity figured it out at least 3 million years ago. And when it was discovered, entire forests were burnt to the ground by our ancestors, year after year.
(What, you actually thought it was natural and healthy for enormous fires to sweep over the land from time to time? Ha! The "Great Plains" was a Native American invention!)
Much, much later, the plow was invented, which has also completely devastated large areas of the world. All of the deserts of the world are man made, through widespread agriculture and animal husbandry....along with good old fashioned manmade prairie fires.
Trace back the history of the Arabian desert....Saharan desert....Sonoran desert....Australian desert....etc. When did those begin? Not too long after the beginnings of agriculture and widespread animal husbandry, right? And where are the biggest deserts located....? Right around the areas where civilization first arose? What a coincidence.
So now that these facts have been explained, how completely fucking ridiculous does the climate change alarmism sound? So we're going to solve all of mankind's problems by sending money to Al Gore and his Jewish friends? Right. Who the hell cares about the globe warming up a couple degrees, when the alternative is a 10-20+ degree cooling when the glacial cycle runs its inevitable course, as it has dozens of times over the span of human history, to the great detriment of humanity? It could be argued that the "Little Ice Age" was actually supposed to be the beginning of the new glacial cycle, but was reverted due to the sudden widespread growth of industry and especially fossil fuel burning!
What we've actually got to do is completely reinvent humanity. Good luck accomplishing that with carbon credits.
""... the invention of fire..." LOL
I know Ben Franklin invented electricity, but I can't remember the name of the guy who invented fire. Some Greek dude I think
You know exactly what I meant, unless of course you're a simpleton.
Invented....discovered the use of....implemented in practice....harnessed for a specific purpose....mastered the creation of....get it, moron?
The creation of fire at will is most certainly a type of invention.
Did you want to actually contribute something of value to this conversation, or do you prefer to just make smart ass remarks from the sidelines?
Sadly, the world is full of primates such as yourself whose mentality doesn't seem to have advanced much beyond early hominid status.
Impact climate change? Hell, Congress can't even balance a budget.
The burden created by excess debt is almost never paid by future generations. It is paid by those who have saved in the very medium of exchange (in our case the dollar) which has been created through borrowing. Even the younger folk (Millennials in this case) have time to rebuild when the currency dies. The heaviest burden falls on the elderly and pensioners. They are paid nominally even as the currency becomes worth...nothing. This is the way it will almost certainly happen this time just as it happened in 1796 in france and 1923 in Weimar.
Save in gold not dollars. If you keep 10% in gold you will likely come through better than if things never collapsed. Save a higher percentage if your understanding permits. Gold is still the only money asset...'all else is credit'.
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against credit, wonderful stuff...just not for saving.
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/05/seizing-an-alternative-recognizin...
Hmm...The once a week campus shooting contrasts with what we dealt with on final exams week: Phoned in bomb threats.
It started with Bill Clinton. He was For Sale like no other American President. Clinton had NAFTA passed and Glass Steagal repealed on his watch and that is how he "earned" $240MM from the years 2000 to 2010 after leaving the WH broke.
It continues with Hillary and the Clinton Fund.
Yes, everything was going great before Clinton. First that son of a bitch passed the alien and sedition acts, then he held what was thought to be a "voluntary union of states" together with blood and violence, then, a while later, he signed the federal reserve act. Shortly after that, he snuck us into WWI which set the stage for a century of conflict that would not have existed if Clinton had let us sit it out. Then he decided that US citizens weren't even allowed to own gold and confiscated it, followed by devaluing the dollar by nearly half. Then, a while later, Clinton severed the dollars link to gold, creating a purely fiat money system based entirely on perpetual debt creation.
That dirty, rotten bastard. Took the country down single handedly.....
Given the pervasive Fukushima radiation wafting over North America and poisoning our soil crops and water, it is doubtful that many millenials will live to collect social security.
Notice the crickets when this subject comes up.
Try this:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/coal-ash-is-more-radioactive-t...
18 to 20 y/o's never vote.
I stopped reading when the author stated " at 20 you have 40-50 years
to plow money into the stock market..." haha howsabout I plow my money
into my own business- and not the schuyster bankster casino.
Good luck, stonehands, my sentiments exactly although my business was sold some 20 yrs ago and only some rental income comes in now. I made those 40-50 years into 22 years and my wife and I raised four kids in a 940 sf house. Don't forget that when you EARN your money it feels good, but do take the time to SPEND it.
Am I the only one to see an emerging trend here on ZH? You're rolling along reading what you think is a good article and then all of a sudden you're hit with a statement that's straight from the one percenter's agenda. What the fuck is that global warming bullshit statement doing on this web site? What's up with that ZH?
Shit like that slipping in all the time now. Yea I agree, wtf?
This is an op-ed authored by Paul Brandus from Marketwatch. Not an original piece submitted by a Tyler.
Too bad for them
I presume that the author of this article, who wrote this sentence:
Was not aware of this comment from said current President....
"We just don't understand it." - Paul Krugman
Global Warming? I can't trust a writer who touts a hoax. They used to call it 'Global Warming'. Then some brave scientists challenged the data and the motives of the people warning us about drowning polar bears. So they now call it 'Climate Change'. The climate is always changing. Al Gore screamed in panic that rising levels of CO2 would kill us. CO2 makes up .034% of the atmoshphere. Less than half of one percent. It's nothing. In fact, if it falls to .025 no plants will be able to grow. So now they say the problem is methane. What's the biggest source of methane? Natural sources and cows - no joke.
"Millenial" is a marketing term used to manipulate people. You can be born in a range of years and not "identify as" a "Millenial", "Baby Boomer", or whatever. If you pick up those labels, you get all the shit that goes with them and must carry other people's water. For that matter, the term "Baby Boomer" originally meant people born right after the war and only later grew and grew to encompass millions of people that had no common experiences with those from 1945-50. Marketing and social engineering.
Maybe it's better to be your own person than to try to obey a set of rules concocted for your slave group.
By the way, this isn't the first "wasted generation" that wasn't going to do as well as their parents. You can go all the way back to the first post-Baby Boomer years of the late 1950's to find the decline. Douglas Coupland wrote his "Generation X" about those late 50's/early 60's birthyear kids during the late 80's to describe the phenomenon of coming in after the anointed ones had passed through the system and everything was shut down behind them.
And certainly no one born in the late 60's or 1970's believed it would be a cinch that they would have it better than their parents. That group saw the collapse of every social institution from Unions, to Welfare programs, and the rise of the police state during their youth and continuing to the present day.
This pandering to the slavegroup "Millenials" is intended to divide and conquer. The idiots who think they own this country want a softer version of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. They want to remove those that have historical memory and critical thinking skills from any kind of authority, and replace them with "Millenial" types. They think they will have generations of compliant slaves ad infinitum. To be a "Millenial" is to accept your place under the foot of your betters, while they tell you how great you are for doing so. Those who impose the label on you think you are a bunch of stupid tools.
That's what Collectivism is all about.
I guess I'm a boomer - but I was too young to go to Vietnam.
When I got out of high school people were waiting in line for many hours to fill their cars with gas.
When I graduated college I had 2 student loans which I paid off - but the interest rate was really really low - perhaps 1-2 %.
My wife and I are now retired. We have no pensions - just our savings. We have not yet filed for social security.
Over my 30 year career I was probably a sub-contractor half the time. Perhaps I had 10 different positions over the years - kind of funny but I was a contractor for 5 years with one company and they hired me as an employee for another 5. I worked for one tech startup three times over 10 years. Another mid-sized tech company for 2 stints. Sometimes I left perfectly good positions (some great) just to push myself to stay current. Somehow I managed to not burn bridges - well not many anyway.
We have managed to save some money. We never really made any money in the market - but we also didn't lose any - well not much. What really helped us was earning 5% or so on our savings for a lot of years.
If you are young - you don't need to buy a house - buy a condo/townhouse and save (don't rent) - stay away from the credit cards.
Yep compound interest at 5% -seems like a huge return nowadays but the advice is solid. The best return comes from investing in yourself and making sure your personal ROI is positive.
A year from now a record voter turnout of people will ensure somebody doesn't win.
I was with you until you went with the lefts standby climate change argument.
Central to the malaise is the zionist insurgency, that uses every host nation to pursue its own wacky assed agenda. The concept is we the people are supposed to have the power to determine our own destiny. Turns out the jewish sycophants saw the uSa as a giant blank check, the proceeds of which would go to the exclusive use of the jews for all things jewish. If you dare put a label on it, and point out that America has been co-opted by a foreign power, where the interests of that power are served via US domestic and foreign policy, you either get a blank stare, the classic name calling tack 'anti-semite', or from the religious crowd 'heretic'.
So many posters here, and all over the place, tend to be fatalistic. The truth is if you erase the zionist initiative, delete all support for any part of its agenda, cancel all its policies, shut of the spigot for any of its funding, and keep zionists out of congress, and the WH, and the banking system, and policy advisers, nationalize the media (for a little while) and purge it of zionists, tell the zionists, "we love you so much, we want you to enjoy that little country we paid $10Ts for. Really, its all yours. You think you are so special? A blessed tribe of God? Great. Fantastic. Since you think you are so much better than everybody else, we would not want to ruin your life by having to soil the soles of yur shoes to walk on ground just trod by an unsavory animal, which is what you call a 'gentile', right?' You are going to love it in your homeland. You can all enjoy your superior selves and your god, and all your traditions, and since everybody around you will be just like you you will never have to worry about those mean old 'anti-semites' saying bad things about you, and no more worries about 'holocausts' and unfair treatment. The planes are waiting! ... Are you still here? Get the h*** outta here!", you would be happily amazed at how much the situation would improve, and in record time.
Try to imagine the extraordinarily positive impact it will have on our country (mine is the uSa) if we totally erased every last vestige, to the tiniest microscopic part, of the zionist insurgency. After all, this agenda debases our nation. Nothing they pursue is in *our* interests. It is always exclusively in *their* interests.
Why the ___ should we, as Americans, serve the agenda of a foreign power, at our cost and self-destruction? Nobody has taken the time to successfully elaborate on exactly how supporting the zionist agenda is good for America. But there has been an avalanche of books and data to show how supporting zionism is the bane of the nation.
Why should we fatalistically stand by and watch a foreign power we have clearly identified just destroy our futures, not just ours, but that of our children?
Zionism is a deadly disease, a cancer in the host country. You go back 150, 100, 60 years and read books from different eras literally prophesying what is happening in America today (as well as many other countries) who allowed the zionists to get a hook on us. The *only* interests that should be served are American interests - period. America first, foremost, and only. If a person is an American, what kind of person would think that is bad? Translated = Americans first, foremost and only. So to the demented idiot who thinks somehow that is a bad thing, that means it is in their best interest.
There will be no genie from the sky who fixes this problem. The fix is easy, but we have to take action and do something about it. It won't be the 'fault' of the 'ruling elite', it will be ours, the masses, the many, the free, who lacked the courage and will to step out and take on the zionist insurgency head on.
We are cowed into submission for fear of being called a name. How weak is that? Would you rather the zionist insurgency, the foreign power who is gutting your nation and pursuing their own interests at your considerable expense, and not at all in the interests of the uSa, just keep on keeping on, or would you rather spend an hour each day learning your history, getting armed with the facts, and then in a short, concise way, at the very least, call congress, spend a few hours a week, maybe a call a day, and in 1 minute or less, tell them you oppose any number of zinist policies - and you don't even have to use the term. Like WWIII, that is a zionist objective. Getting US troops into Syria, that is one. Like getting rid of the private zio central fed reserve banking system is another. There are so many. Every corrupt artifice in the uSa is linked to zionists, so calling out corruption is 'anti-semitic'.
We all know what the problem is, and we know the source, we are just too scared to do anything about it, because we are worried about our income, our reputation and the safety of our families. Jesus made himself a target. I respect that, but I hope to find a way to attack the problem in a more circumspect way.
The bottom line is, getting rid of the zionist insurgency is like a massive toxic cleanse to the body politic. That is the prime objective of the counter-revolution.
"Wasted Generation" = "Last Generation" (or the "Zero Generation").
No human ape can "compete" for resources per capita, earned income for subsistence, and status with the combination of the costs of debt service of the hyper-financialized, rentier-socialist corporate-state AND accelerating technological advancements of Big Data analytics, robotics, bioinformatics, biometrics, nano-electronic sensors, telepresence, slave labor, etc.
The emerging information-systems/artificial intelligence (IS/AI) "consciousness" and its accelerating capabilities to replace human ape paid labor and purchasing power is akin to modern humans making first contact with Neanderthals and Europeans' initial encounter with Mesoamericans. Eventually, the vast majority of us will be rendered utterly redundant and, in fact, useless, possessing even LESS utility than outright slaves.
The future (is now) is "Elysium", as the top 0.001-1% own everything and do not need the economy to grow, and thus won't need to go off planet but rather starve the bottom 90%+ into obilivion over the next 10-20 years.
The rentier-socialist, corporate-statist (the culmination of the winner-take-all, evolutionary progression of human apes) top 0.001-1% are ever closer to pulling the plug on the rest of us. So, practice bending over and kissing your a$$ good bye, because when the time comes, we might have just enough time to stand and bend at the waist.
Assume the position, bitchez . . .
They'll never be able to actually do it. They are the last generation of elitists.
“…distrust and anger ripples across America…”
That is putting it mildly.
“…you should be plowing cash into stocks…”
ROFL! "Just Us" need more sheep to fleece.
Plowing cash into hard for the state to steal, productive assets under your direct control makes a lot more sense in this over-regulated, police state, crony gulag we call a country.
Only about a quarter of us think the country is on the right track.
And they all work for the government.
It's pretty straightforward: The STATUS QUO (that has destroyed this once great country) has GOT TO GO... Anyone with two brain cells can comprehend this...
the millenials are useless. the genxers are only marginally better. when genx money funds millennial riots and the right people start dying i will have some respect. in the meantime, i'm going fishing because it makes sense, unlike the rest of what i have to deal with.
The global warming bullshit? Damn, the author lost me after the one a week school shooting that Bloomberg and his ilk push!
TRUST. It is not just a millenial issue.
But the President cannot do much with a corrupt Congress that makes the laws.
WE NEED CAMPAIGN FINANCE LIMITS. WE NEED TO ELIMINATE SUPER PACS.
TO DO THAT WE NEED A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.
See MoveToAmend.org
"Everyone wants to change the world but nobody wants to change themselves" Tolstoy
I imagine the X'ers and Millennials will have the same control over government policies that the boomers had.
Then when their children start accusing them (X'ers and Millennials) of all their problems....then and only then will they understand the reality of it all.
Obama ... worst president EVER... and we have had some very bad ones.
If there is a real threat of a non-politician being elected next November as the next POTUS, we'll see how vindictive, manipulative and coercive our government can be. If a Trump or lets say Carly gets elected - I truly believe the government will go into overdrive to curtail/stop/postpone the inauguration. The election will be a literal water shed event for the future of the United States of America.
We keep seeing stories about the older generation leaving a mess for the younger generation along with huge debts. But when the collapse comes, the older generation will have little more than promises - whereas the younger generation will be employable in a post collapse world. And in that world will be a dollar collapse - the only way to pay off debts - such that the younger generation will use 2025 dollars to pay for 2005 debt.
It wasn't broken.
Hillary will complete the Orwellian Police/Surveillance state for which the groundwork is currently being laid. Welcome to the nightmare of the Hillary... Big sister will be watching you.
There... now it is fixed again.
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He's forgotten the rise of automation, AI, VR, 3D printing, and autonomous vehicles, which by anyone's understanding of the most basic optimistic outlook, will wipe out at least 10-15% of the jobs in 10-20 years.
My 14 year old niece will graduate, if she's lucky, into abject underemployment, as these technologies will only accelerate the deflationary forces and the job losses, which will increase exponentially over the decades, as the technology grows exponentially.
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V-V
Dupe see below
Millenials - Just do me a favor as Gen xer and get rid of the thick black nerd glasses for the love of Christ! It doesnt make you smarter it just now makes employers think your trying to hard.
To Boomers just shedup already your larger failures was an inevitability but you accomplished a bit which is all we can do as a species. For God sake the father of rocketry thought we could actually repel an alien invasion and that was only 70 years ago.
I am sure even if I can add a little value 50 years from now half of my beliefs will seem retarded.
All else is a portion of people thay try to cheat, usually using leverage from mummy and daddy in one shape or form. Your shit is really stinking up the joint of late and mine isnt all that nice smelling. Six degrees of seperation, look it up. You ARE your brothers keeper logistically whether you like it or not.