This article was originally published by James Quinn at The Burning Platform
In Part One of this article I exposed the establishment narrative of a strong economy as rubbish by providing hard data regarding imploding gasoline usage, failing bricks and mortar retailers and plunging restaurant sales.
“Inflation may indeed bring benefits for a short time to favored groups, but only at the expense of others. And in the long run it brings ruinous consequences to the whole community. Even a relatively mild inflation distorts the structure of production. It leads to the overexpansion of some industries at the expense of others. This involves a misapplication and waste of capital. When the inflation collapses, or is brought to a halt, the misdirected capital investment—whether in the form of machines, factories or office buildings—cannot yield an adequate return and loses the greater part of its value.Nor is it possible to bring inflation to a smooth and gentle stop, and so avert a subsequent depression.” – Henry Hazlitt – Economics in One Lesson
Inflation is the opium of the masses. The establishment’s interest in dumbing down the masses through government controlled public school indoctrination couldn’t be clearer than examining the chart below. The average non-thinking, math challenged, iGadget distracted, media controlled pawn thinks their household income has risen by $6,000 since 2008 because they have no understanding of Fed created inflation.
Even using the ridiculously downward manipulated CPI concoction shows the median household has lost ground. While median income has remained stagnant since 2000, the CPI is up 44%. Using honest inflation numbers would likely double that figure. Stagnant incomes with living costs 40% to 80% higher doesn’t exactly match the rhetoric of a strong economy being propagandized by the Deep State and their fake news media outlets.
Even the BLS can’t hide the inflation ravaging middle class families and senior citizens on fixed incomes. And those fixed incomes are fixed at zero, as they get .20% on their savings and no increases in their Social Security payments. CPI is now 2.5% higher than one year ago, above the magic central banker 2% goal. It has been raging at an annualized 4.4% rate over the last three months. It is poised to go even higher in the next few months.
Yellen and her intellectual yet idiot cohort of ego maniacal central banker brethren pretend they know the ideal rate of inflation to keep the economy running just right. See how well they’ve done since 1999, with two massive bubbles destroying the lives of millions and the mother of all bubbles (stocks, bonds, real estate) currently continuing to grow before it’s predictable incineration of wealth.
The Big Lie about the need for inflation has been pounded into the heads of the weak minded by the Fed, Wall Street shysters, fake news media outlets, and TV entertainers disguised as journalists and financial experts. This country became a worldwide industrial power while sustaining mild deflationary conditions for almost two hundred years. It wasn’t until the birth of the welfare/warfare state in the 1960s when corrupt politicians and spineless central bankers decided they needed guns, butter, and entitlements.
Closing the gold window in 1971 and allowing politicians to run up the national debt from $400 billion (34% of GDP) to $20 trillion (106% of GDP), while making $200 trillion of unfunded entitlement promises, has been the result. Total credit market debt has risen from $2 trillion in 1971 to over $65 trillion today. Total global debt has surpassed $217 trillion, or 325% of global GDP. The only way to make these disastrously horrible decisions seem palatable has been to produce inflation at prodigious levels in order to make the debt appear payable. It’s not.
Inflation and its supposed benefits is an example of how the Deep State has perfected the teachings of master propagandist Edward Bernays.
“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. …We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized.
Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. …In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons…who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.” – Edward Bernays – Propaganda – 1928
Of course, the pliable public has been convinced government debt doesn’t matter because we owe it ourselves, or some such nonsense. They have also been convinced by Madison Avenue maggots and Wall Street shysters that luxury automobiles, McMansions, Rolex watches, 72 inch home theaters, iGadgets, and a myriad of other “essential” material possessions purchased with debt actually constitute wealth. Keeping up with the joneses has been brainwashed into the minds of the ignorant masses as their only true goal in life.
The result is consumer credit of $3.8 trillion, the highest level in history. Since the 2008 financial crisis, created by the fraudulent issuance of mountains of subprime debt by Wall Street banks and stimulated by the easy money Fed, hundreds of billions of subprime student loan and auto debt have been dispensed to artificially boost GDP. This scheme was concocted by the Obama administration, Yellen, and their Wall Street puppeteers to bamboozle the public and temporarily jolt the economy. It failed.
Over 25% of all student loans are in default. Six million Americans are delinquent on their auto loans. The taxpayer bailout when the student loan “crisis” suddenly hits will exceed $500 billion, as Obama has doled out loans to every functionally illiterate college wannabe in the nation. You’d think the payoff from doling out $700 billion in student loan debt would be more knowledgeable young people imbibed with the inspiration to change the world with their newfound intelligence and training.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The $700 billion has produced illiterate, violent social justice warriors who despise free speech, can’t add, can’t write a sentence, and are virtually unemployable. But they are good at protesting, burning things, and being outraged by anyone they disagree with. This student loan debacle has been a purposeful scheme to artificially lower unemployment and provide the appearance of economic recovery, as the loan money has been used for iGadgets, booze, hookers and blow. Mission accomplished Obama!!
“The most erroneous assumption is to the effect that the aim of public education is to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence, and so make them fit to discharge the duties of citizenship in an enlightened and independent manner. Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all; it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality. That is its aim in the United States, whatever the pretensions of politicians, pedagogues and other such mountebanks, and that is its aim everywhere else.” – H.L. Mencken
The one area of consumer credit which has not reached its previous bubble peak is credit card debt. After Wall Street wrote off $300 billion (funded by taxpayer TARP funds) they began issuing credit cards like candy, again. But consumers have been slower to whip out the plastic like the pre-2008 days. That’s why bricks and mortar retailers have closed thousands of stores and ghost malls across suburbia are the norm.
So it begs the question as to why credit card debt has increased by $160 billion (up 20%) since its 2010 low. The answer is simple when you take into account the stagnant wages and rising cost of living documented earlier. Credit card defaults are so low because they are the only thing sustaining millions of families across the country.
In case you haven’t noticed, the purveyors of credit on Wall Street, out of the goodness of their evil black hearts (they’ve paid $321 billion in fines since 2008 without admitting guilt or having one executive jailed), have convinced every level of government, every utility company, landlords, and educational institutions to accept credit cards for payment. Before 2000, all these bills had to be paid with cash on hand.
Now you can pay your IRS bill, real estate taxes, monthly cell phone bill, school tuition or rent (with outrageous fees) with a credit card at 15% interest. Nothing like turning a $2,500 real estate tax payment into a $4,000 real estate tax payment, over time. It’s the American way.
Desperate households across the land aren’t clinging to guns and bibles. They’re clinging to credit cards as their only lifeline in this failing empire of debt, deception, and delusion. When the next inevitable financial crisis strikes “unexpectedly” and even the low paying, no benefits Obama jobs disappear, even their five credit cards won’t keep them from getting kicked out on the street again.
This isn’t just my pessimistic doom persona rearing its ugly head. My ponderings are based on common sense, an honest assessment of the real situation in this country and an understanding of the ebbs and flows of history. H.L. Mencken had similar views on government and the American people during the last Fourth Turning.
“In the present case it is a little inaccurate to say I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible to any public office of trust or profit in the Republic. But I do not repine, for I am a subject of it only by force of arms.” – H.L. Mencken
Based on anecdotal and hard verifiable data, the average American family is in the midst of a recession, if not a depression. No amount of propaganda, misinformation, fake government data, or fake news can cover-up the facts. Donald Trump was elected president, not by misogynist, white, racist, xenophobes, but by families (men and women) who have been screwed over by the establishment for decades and left impoverished, hopeless, and depressed.
He won the election because radicals like you and me decided to send a message to the arrogant, evil, globalist ruling class that we are mad as hell and aren’t going to take it anymore. Despair of the silent normal majority is what propelled Trump to victory. Choices have consequences.
“History offers no guarantees. If America plunges into an era of depression or violence which by then has not lifted, we will likely look back on the 1990s as the decade when we valued all the wrong things and made all the wrong choices.” – Strauss & Howe – The Fourth Turning
In Part Three of this article I will assess the early days of the Trump presidency, the full court press by the Deep State to bring him down, his unrealistic economic plans, and how our overvalued stock, bond and real estate markets will eventually crash, leading to the next leg down in this Fourth Turning.
CALIFORNIA MULLS EXEMPTING TEACHERS FROM INCOME TAX
Well… I guess this is ok… as long at the Teachers’ Assoc. commits to continue voting as Marxist as a bloc, like they already are!
From the George Orwell “under socialism, we’ll all be equal, only some of us will be ‘more equal’ than the others” file:
“California Mulls Exempting Teachers From Income Tax”: http://dailycaller.com/2017/03/14/more-equal-than-others-california-mulls-exempting-teachers-from-income-tax/
We’re assuming that we need public employees, when every last one of these services could be provided, in a competitive market, at private expense.
If people want to raise inarticulate, irresponsible children, be improvident, and take fatal risks, the natural consequences to their own choices would be social failure and an early death. Let it be on their own hands.
Noone needs to ration, redistribute the wealth, take a proactive or eugenic approach to nature’s failures. Freedom is not helpful, to the useless eater.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudsill_theory
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malthusianism
(Beaumont, California)
… and as a follow on to my one above, I’m reminded of dear old departed Leonid Brezhnev. OK, yes, this is apocryphal, but still…
The story goes Leonid Brezhnev had his ancient grandmother visit him at his office in Moscow when he was leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Brezhnev proudly showed her his many Zil limousines – all left running for whenever his whims demanded – the Italian marble floors in his private bathroom, the gold plated handles on his mahogany desk, all his dachas, his multiple fine silk suites in his closets, and much, much more.
Finally, the end of the day came, and all the assistants, servants and aides went home. After everyone had left, the aged grandmother looked around very, very carefully, then sidled up as close as she possibly could to her grandson and whispered very, very quietly in his ear:
“This is all very well, Leonid. But… *****what if the Communists come???”***
Of course, today we would apply this same story to all the Hollywood Learjet leftists, Michelle-Marie Antoinette Obama and her monthly uber-vacations, the John Kerrys with their mega-yachts, the Nancy Pelosis who increase their net worth by tens of millions while in office, etc.
Or, maybe, in real life, re. Irina Bokova, who as of Sept. 2016 was head of the UN’s UNESCO, and now is up to be the UN head in 2017. This “woman of the people” – but not apocryphal, has a number of luxury properties (among other things), including a Manhattan apartment worth over $3 million, and own properties in London and Paris, worth over $1 million each, according to Bulgarian watchdog Bivol. Funny how she obtained all this as a “servant of the people” on a public servant’s salary. Kinda reminds one of fellow commie rich-nik former UN Under-Secretary General Maurice Strong, who recently went to his reward – or lack thereof – despite a net worth of over $100 million.
TEST, I didn’t know Maurice Strong had died. GOOD RIDDANCE. One less MWO/globalist/commie bastard breathing. Irina Bokova is no better. She is from BULGARIA, which was the MOST LOYAL state in the Warsaw Pact to the USSR. There’s a lot of blood on her hands as well. Bulgarians are just as treacherous as Russians.
You always seemed interested in the truth, DBH. This is unrelated to this blog, but here you go.
https://www.sayanythingblog.com/entry/nodapl-camp-cleanup-completed-estimated-2-4-million-pounds-trash-hauled-away/
Our Sheriff and his family are still under fire from the national level. Most of the local elders very upset over the hijacking of this – there will be open wounds for a long time….
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4313014/Anti-aircraft-machineguns-MORTARS-seized-gang.html
Good question.
That is a crazy collection of guns. It’s all military. Some of it may be WWII, but much isn’t that old by a long shot. Of course anyone can just go to MORTARS-R-US and buy all this stuff?
There is a government connected to this big time. There’s enough there to arm a revolution.
WHAT THE FRICKING HELL ARE THEY GETTING READY FOR???
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4313014/Anti-aircraft-machineguns-MORTARS-seized-gang.html
Good question. What the fuck is really going on. Man you guys, take a look at this. Could something like this could possibly going on. What they hell kind of inventory is that. Sarge, Sgt Dale, you need to take a look at this link? Jesus shit. Let me get my BOL ready, and jump town, fuck this.
HCKS.
I always thought of the fallacy of controlling guns in Europe. WWII left untold qualities of serious guns, forget pistols, military guns all over the place. How hard could it be to get a WWII era submachine gun there?
20 years ago there were allot being shipped over here. I don’t know what is left there now! the idiots probably shipped them out of there country and kept none!! LOL
What was grabbed up out of government control, hid in the attic has to be a very great amount. Imagine crawling out of your home post battle. MP40s, MG42s, Lugers, P-38s, a few Thompson’s, Carbines and a STEN thrown in for good measure with Potato Mashers as a side dish. I’ll go out on a limb and bet that this BB would clean out the area to a point that someone would have a Tiger Tank in their barn under a hay pile.
HCKS, I just finished the article. If I could get inside that warehouse for just one hour…..Like a kid in a candy store, LOL!
Someone report before approximately 25% of the people in Germany own weapons illegally. One can only hope the German people one day will take back their country. Maybe some of these arms are going into the hands of patriots…again, one can only hope!
Like Most Americans, Yep I’m so Broke, I can’t even Pay attention. Just finished my 16 Tax Return.. Bend over Rover. More money down the black hole, never to be seen again. That big sucking sound, Poof!!! Gone..!!!!
If you paying money to the government, you ain’t broke. If you don’t have any taxes taken out all year and the child credit becomes cash in your pocket, you are closer to broke then most…
Raising a family of four on $25,000 is tough, pinching pennies here.
I for one who works in government, lost 1/5 of my income from my one job since 2015, and I am in a poverty class,(under 8K a year) now while those uppers at work get a raise every year for sitting and doing nothing much in their offices. I have to get another job this spring to make up what the government took away. Trumps job cuts will cut my job which I do the work of two people with essential hard labor and the uppers have 3 socialist degree idiots to do one easy job. Nothing is changing. The Elitist Deep State still controls the government and where money is spent—on themselves. When the people see the job I used to do isn’t being done, Trump will be to blame since it is “his” government.
The swamps here are getting larger and larger.
How about my plan for economic stability:
Hang the Banksters, traitors, and Pedofiles.
Put the worst criminals in the prisons thru a speedy trial and execute them.
Release those who are wrongly incarcerated.
Put the non violent petty criminals in a half way house and have them work
for a time on projects such as building the wall with Mexico, cleaning and repairing
the highways, etc.
Outlaw GMOs, try Monsanto and execute the guilty.
Hang the media bosses.
Hang the owners of brothels and pimps across the country.
Take control of publishing, academia, the media, and the music industry. Hang the guilty.
Take control of medical schools, hang the guilty.
Hang the guilty judges, pressitutes, and BigPharma, the FDA, CIA, and alphabet traitors.
Hang the uber rich unless they can prove they didn’t swindle the average person. Keep their money.
Deport All Muslims to their respective Countries. Outlaw ISLAM.
Send in Troops to A Country in Northern Africa. Clear out an area. Resettle American Blacks in their own State in Africa. Remove South African Blacks, resettle them back in North Africa where most of them came from. Reserve South Africa for white only.
Stop all foreign aid.
Round up criminal violent illegals and execute them.
Deport the rest of the illegals.
Close down Child Protective Services and hang the guilty.
Deport nonwhites to their respective Countries. Declare America a Country for whites only.
Send troops to Europe and hang the traitors and deport the nonWhites to their respective Countries.
Hang the Banksters in the City of London, and wherever else they are.
Send troops to Is real hell and retrieve the white kidnapped girls. Hang the guilty. Get help from Russia and the surrounding Muslim Countries. Disarm the criminal regime in Is real hell. Free the Palestinians to create their own independent State.
Ship the chosen Americans to Is real hell. If they refuse to go, there is a Final Solution.
Take all the stupid destructive laws, like free trade and the 1965 immigration law, and trash them.
That ought to fix the economy. If it doesn’t, we’ll figure out what to do next !!!
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B from CA for President 2020. You got my Vote. We need a real Pres with Balls. Martial Law on the elite class of thieves. Put them in FEMA Camp Sweat Shops and make shoes and tires for the real working class. Confiscate all their wealth and reinvest it in America and health care.
B from CA… yeah none of that is likely to happen. California daydreaming. Only logical solution from the top is to get rid of average people. The alphabet agencies are working feverishly on this approach. Poison the masses to death. Slow kill is too slow at this point. Release the medical war kraken. They say kill kill they want to kill. Or nukeorama. This direction won’t be reversed. Survival of the richest.
Alijamo:
I know.
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One thing struck me as slightly inaccurate in the article. He says you can pay property taxes and your electric bill with a credit card. You can’t do that here. None of the government offices here take plastic of any kind, only cash or checks.
Of course, there is a way to pay the property taxes with credit indirectly using a third-party website, which costs extra.
in my town in north Atlanta Georgia you can use credit, pay an additional 2.35% fee on top of your tax bill. like gee thanks!
Hey Kevin2, now you know why I am always on high alert. GO figure. I have never seen anything like this is awhile. I taught the chi-com arsenal from Senator Leland Yee and shrimp boy was a lot. This fails paid in comparison.
HCKS.
HICK, what the hell does that gibberish translate into? Don’t you proofread to make sure you don’t sound like a completely illiterate fucking bafoon or is it your spellcheck ain’t spellcheckin?
People keep wondering when SHTF will happen.
The Zionists and their bankers are obviously trying to eliminate the last groups of Americans with the means to support themselves.
People can’t prep if they’re near broke living on the streets. People can’t mobilize if they’re destitute and in poor health.
Obamacare and its replacement anyone?
Those completely broken by the system will be more subservient and willing to comply with the NWO.
The Zionists have already eliminated any possibility of the poor putting up a fight. The poor all rely on usury and government assistance; the Zionists will be sure to end it all at the most opportune time.
Those in the middle class have been relentlessly attacked by the Zionists and soon they will be powerless to support themselves as well. When the only group left to take money from is the extremely wealthy then I believe the Zionists will allow the system to collapse.
Stop voting, stop working, stop paying taxes, and stop playing by the bankers rules.
Cut the head off the snake while you still can! Without the U.S. government protecting the Zionist bankers they will flee.
The Zionists know about preppers and they do not fear them.
The average American has no preps compared to the Zionists. The Zionists will simply hide while most Americans kill each other.
Those very few who chose to evade the chaos will later be hunted down.
A one world religion, one world government, and one world currency will have many people brainwashed.
All preppers will be outsiders and branded enemies of society. Those that oppose the NWO will be made example of.
Those waiting on divine intervention will be disappointed.
Take action now America while you still can.