Inequality for All

Poor Man Survival

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The American Government has become a bureaucratic tumor, no longer does it work for the people. It is sucking the lifeblood and freedom from the people it is supposed to be serving. It's only a matter of time before it self-destructs. >the Poor Man

Inequality for All

An economist walks past a hundred dollar bill om the sidewalk and doesn't pick it up. His friends ask why. “If it were worth something, someone else would have grabbed it already.” And that kind of sums up how many people today think about Obama's efforts at helping the middle class.

Fewer people are spending any real real money but they are going into debt again and the layoffs and retail store closings are starting again and cities are still languishing...It's happening in China and in Europe too.

No sooner had Mr. Trump become the presumptive GOP nominee and the kindergarten antics began. Former GOP presidents refused to support Trump because their boy didn't get the nod, GOP big shots wouldn't add their support offering a wait and see promise [hoping perhaps Bernie would pull off a miracle against Clinton] and some groups are urging advertisers such as Coca Cola to withhold support of the GOP convention in Cleveland this summer.

In recent years the GOP has become notorious for its impotence and it refuses any kind of Viagra. Trump, an outsider, using his own cash, managed to thumb his nose at the political elite and managed to break the sound barrier of politically incorrect sound bites by tapping into the anger and frustration of the middle class feels against career politicians who have screwed them and the nation while serving their corporate master.

If you're a political outside the two parties make it especially difficult to run-they've designed it that way on purpose. Just ask anyone from the Libertarian Party or other third party.

Ironically, polls indicate the majority of Americans do not trust either Clinton or Trump and as usual, it will boil down to choosing the lesser of the two evils but it is interesting to finally see someone outside of the political mainstream achieve what Trump did.

Some Democratic Party members, even rank and file Democrats, have grown sick and tired of the Clintons. There's even a rumor floating around that hints that she'll make Obama her running mate! If something were to happen to Hillary, Obama would become President again.

If that were to happen, our freedom would further erode, especially in the area of gun rights and it is speculated that Hillary would nationalize retirement accounts under the so-called Guaranteed Retirement Accounts [GRAs] first mentioned by Obama in a State of the Union speech.

 

Trump was further chastised on a Yahoo news story for a potential plan to wipe out the national debt with a semi-bankruptcy plan. The response was immediate and harsh as to be expected from the ill-informed. Think about however, both parties have been bankrupting this nation for past 50 years. Our income tax system is a bad joke and our spending power is has eroded by 45% in just the past 15 years! The Fed [which is a bunch of bankers Thomas Jefferson warned us against] has done a great job of denigrating the value of our dollar already thank you.

In either case, should Trump and Clinton become the nominees, I predict we'll see one of the dirtiest races ever waged between the two parties. The Clinton's in particular, are no strangers to dirty politics.

In the Grip of Greed


Thanks to former President Clinton financial markets are now akin to casino only most people don't seem to get it. The game is rigged by the Fed, the banks and high-frequency traders. Clinton' elimination of the 90-year-old protective Glass-Steagall Act allowed Wall Street unrestrained gambling with virtually no government oversight which led to the crash which nearly wiped out America and which the average American is still paying for. [Why do you think Hillary got paid more than $640K from Goldman-Sachs...to keep the Act from being reinstated should she be elected to the oval office, of course]. Many economists are already predicting a repeat of our earlier crash – only worse and much of it can still be blamed on the revolving door between officials in DC and Wall Street.

The regulatory state in DC is nothing more than a wholly owned subsidiary of Wall Street.

There have always been booms and busts but as the Fed continually introduces more artificial unknowns and as the government continually introduces more job choking red tape and regulation [at the state and federal level] these recessions become worse and we become less competitive. According to Shadow Stats, for instance, our jobless numbers hover more closely around 22% versus the 5.65% number Obama gives us [The government is famous for its verisimilitude].

Trump is right...the system is rigged but it is not just elections. The economy is rigged against working people. The income gap in America has grown under every President since Clinton's second term creating a sluggish, unequal and crisis-prone economy because of tax giveaways, financial sector deregulation, lack of oversight and more.

American capitalism has become a sort of crony capitalism more akin to a third-world autocracy than a supposedly free-market system.

The system is rigged because we have the most expensive government can buy...

The headlines look good now but if you dig deeper you'll find trouble. Unemployment has dropped partly because a huge number [something which Trump and others have pointed out] have given up looking for a job. The labor participation rate dropping to a 38-year low. Household income for the average American family, meanwhile is still $4,000 lower than when Bill Clinton left office. This has been the weakest recovery in the postwar era, said the Wall Street Journal in an editorial recently.

America has seen a wage stagnation and a decline in manufacturing plus a failure to find a new source of middle class jobs to replace it. [sources: Robert Reich's InequalityforAll.com and Bruce David's How to Survive the War on the Middle Class].

Pity the young, said Rich Miller in Bloomberg.com – A coming collapse in investment returns means 30-year-olds starting to put aside money today will have to work seven years longer or save almost twice as much to build up the same nest egg as their parents. That bleak finding indicates the golden era for investors is ending.

The Tax Foundation, a non-profit think tank released their annual report last month and it contained some sobering realities about the cost of government.

>In 2016, Americans, will pay over $3.3 trillion in federal taxes and $1.6 trillion in state and local taxes or 31 percent of the nation's income.

 

>Americans will collectively spend more on taxes in 2016 than they will on food, clothing, and housing combined!.

• If you're bummed about your income, join the crowd Impatience with income has led to a wavering sense of financial insecurity in the U.S. How safe do you feel?
• John Williams of shadowstats.com tracks what the official government numbers would be if honest numbers were actually being used, and according to him U.S. GDP growth has been continuously negative since 2005.
• 
  

I know it's a challenge for many of us to save money today, especially if you have children. That's why I frequently write about part time income strategies [you can get my Escaping the Rat Race CD ROM for only $5 ppd. at our storefront]...further, I always urge folks to grow their own food, and to buy their own home with at least an acre or more so you can grow food and perhaps have a bit of livestock. This I feel, makes an ideal wealth preserving tool and is something you can hand down to your children.

Yours for better living,

Bruce, 'The Poor Man'

Additional Resources

Cheapest and Easiest Ways to do a Will (Clark Howard): "What are the odds you don't have a will? The best guess is that 50% of people don't have one. If you don't have children and have very little in the way of assets, that may be OK for you. But if you do have children, you need a will for the simple fact that if you don't have one, the state will decide who raises your kids." The $15 Retirement Plan (The Simple Dollar): "All you need is $15 a day to retire very nicely if you start when you’re young. That’s just a bit of pocket money most days. Let’s run through the math." The Money Boss Manual: A Brief Guide to Financial Independence (Money Boss): "I’m pleased to announce that, at long last, A Brief Guide to Financial Independence is available to download. This free 70-page PDF collects all of the material from my “financial independence crash course” into one convenient document." Normally I charge $14.95 for this collection, however I feel it is so important I am going to share it with you free of charge and I urge you to share it with your family and friends while it is still available. Your donations are appreciate however! How to Survive the War on the Middle Class 14 of the best reports I’ve assembled on protecting your freedom…Here is the download link. http://1drv.ms/1d9kfiU If you enjoy the resources we present, help support our efforts by making a purchase… Books, Art, Video – the saucy, the odd, the retro, even the practical… http://RetroGuy.net A Smoking Frog Feature, Shallow Planet Production

Despite What Bill O'Reilly Thinks - The Middle Class is Getting Clobbered

Poor Man Survival

Self Reliance tools for independent minded people…

http://PoorManSurvivor.net

 

ISSN 2161-5543

A Digest of Urban Survival Resources

 

 

 

In trying times, too many people stop trying.
- Unknown

Despite assertions by pundits like Bill O’Reilly who believes there is no income disparity in the US – Only vanishing jobs due to technology, there is an income and opportunity gap.  America’s mantra used to be Equality of Opportunity, now Obama just wants to redistribute income to make everyone equal.  This formula has never worked.

 

The number one obstacle to opportunity and jobs is the government which produces so much red tap it strangles small business…in some states, it will cost nearly $1,000 in permits, fees, and training just to operate a hot dog cart.

 

 

The Middle Class Continues to get Clobbered

 

Major retailers had an absolutely dreadful start to 2014 and home sales are declining just as they did back in 2007 before the last financial crisis.  Meanwhile, the U.S. economy continues to lose more good jobs and 20 percent of all U.S. families do not have a single member that is employed at this point.  2014 is turning out to be eerily similar to 2007 in so many ways, but most people are not paying attention.

The “retail apocalypse” continues to escalate, and the biggest reason for this is the fact that middle class consumers in the U.S. are tapped out.  And this is not just happening to a few retailers – this is something that is happening across the board.  The following is a summary of how major U.S. retailers performed in the first quarter of 2014 that was put together by Jim Quinn…

Wal-Mart Profit Plunges By $220 Million as US Store Traffic Declines by 1.4%

Target Profit Plunges by $80 Million, 16% Lower Than 2013, as Store Traffic Declines by 2.3%

Sears Loses $358 Million in First Quarter as Comparable Store Sales at Sears Plunge by 7.8% and Sales at Kmart Plunge by 5.1%

JC Penney Thrilled With Loss of Only $358 Million For the Quarter

Kohl’s Operating Income Plunges by 17% as Comparable Sales Decline by 3.4%

Costco Profit Declines by $84 Million as Comp Store Sales Only Increase by 2%

Staples Profit Plunges by 44% as Sales Collapse and Closing Hundreds of Stores

Gap Income Drops 22% as Same Store Sales Fall

American Eagle Profits Tumble 86%, Will Close 150 Stores

Aeropostale Losses $77 Million as Sales Collapse by 12%

Best Buy Sales Decline by $300 Million as Margins Decline and Comparable Store Sales Decline by 1.3%

Macy’s Profit Flat as Comparable Store Sales decline by 1.4%

Dollar General Profit Plummets by 40% as Comp Store Sales Decline by 3.8%

Urban Outfitters Earnings Collapse by 20% as Sales Stagnate

McDonalds Earnings Fall by $66 Million as US Comp Sales Fall by 1.7%

Darden Profit Collapses by 30% as Same Restaurant Sales Plunge by 5.6% and Company Selling Red Lobster

TJX Misses Earnings Expectations as Sales & Earnings Flat

Dick’s Misses Earnings Expectations as Golf Store Sales Plummet

Home Depot Misses Earnings Expectations as Customer Traffic Only Rises by 2.2%

Lowes Misses Earnings Expectations as Customer Traffic was Flat

That is quite a startling list.

But plummeting retail sales are not the only sign that the U.S. middle class is really struggling right now.  Home sales have also been extremely disappointing for quite a few months.  This is how Wolf Richter described what we have been witnessing…

This is precisely what shouldn’t have happened but was destined to happen: Sales of existing homes have gotten clobbered since last fall. At first, the Fiscal Cliff and the threat of a US government default – remember those zany times? – were blamed, then polar vortices were blamed even while home sales in California, where the weather had been gorgeous all winter, plunged more than elsewhere.

Then it spread to new-home sales: in April, they dropped 4.7% from a year ago, after March’s year-over-year decline of 4.9%, and February’s 2.8%. Not a good sign: the April hit was worse than February’s, when it was the weather’s fault. Yet April should be the busiest month of the year (excellent brief videoby Lee Adler on this debacle).

We have already seen that in some markets, in California for example, sales have collapsed at the lower two-thirds of the price range, with the upper third thriving. People who earn median incomes are increasingly priced out of the market, and many potential first-time buyers have little chance of getting in. In San Diego, for example, sales of homes below $200,000 plunged 46% while the upper end is doing just fine.

As Richter noted, sales of upper end homes are still doing fine in many areas.

 

 

 

But how long will that be able to continue if things continue to get even worse for the poor and the middle class?  Traditionally, the U.S. economy has greatly depended upon consumer spending by the middle class.  If that continues to dry up, how long can we avoid falling into a recession? 

Other analysts are expressing similar concerns.  For example, check out what John Williams of shadowstats.com had to say during one recent interview…

We’re turning down anew. The first quarter should revise into negative territory… and I believe the second quarter will report negative as well.

That will all happen by July 30 when you have the annual revisions to the GDP. In reality the economy is much weaker than that. Economic growth is overstated with the GDP because they understate inflation, which is used in deflating the number…

The reason for this is that the consumer is strapped… doesn’t have the liquidity to fuel the growth in consumption.

Income… the median household income, net of inflation, is as low as it was in 1967. The average guy is not staying ahead of inflation…

This has been a problem now for decades… You were able to buy consumption from the future by borrowing more money, expanding your debt. Greenspan saw the problem was income, so he encouraged debt expansion.

As a result – personal consumption is more than two thirds of the economy – there’s no way you can have positive sustainable growth in the U.S. economy without the consumer being healthy.

The key to the health of the middle class is having plenty of good jobs.  But the U.S. economy continues to lose more good paying jobs.

For example, Hewlett-Packard has just announced that it plans to eliminate 16,000 more jobs in addition to the 34,000 job cuts that have already been announced.

Today, there are 27 million more working age Americans that do not have a job than there were in 2000, and the quality of our jobs continues to decline.

This is absolutely destroying the middle class.  Unless the employment situation in this country starts to turn around, there does not seem to be much hope that the middle class will recover any time soon.

Condensed from a post by…

Michael Snyder is the Editor of The Economic Collapse Blog.

 

Yours in freedom,

Bruce ‘the Poor Man’

 

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