This article was originally published by Michael Snyder at The Economic Collapse
America, you officially have a debt problem, and I am not just talking about the national debt. Consumer bankruptcies are surging, corporate debt has doubled since the last financial crisis, state and local government debt loads have never been higher, and the federal government has been adding more than a trillion dollars a year to the federal debt ever since Barack Obama entered the White House. We have been on the greatest debt binge in human history, and it has enabled us to enjoy our ridiculously high standard of living for far longer than we deserved. Many of us have been sounding the alarm about our debt problem for a very long time, but now even the mainstream news is freaking out about it. I have a feeling that they just want something else to hammer President Trump over the head with, but they are actually speaking the truth when they say that we are facing an unprecedented debt crisis.
For example, the New York Times just published a piece that discussed the fact that the bankruptcy rate among retirees is about three times higher than it was in 1991…
For a rapidly growing share of older Americans, traditional ideas about life in retirement are being upended by a dismal reality: bankruptcy.
The signs of potential trouble — vanishing pensions, soaring medical expenses, inadequate savings — have been building for years. Now, new research sheds light on the scope of the problem: The rate of people 65 and older filing for bankruptcy is three times what it was in 1991, the study found, and the same group accounts for a far greater share of all filers.
Overall, Baby Boomers are doing a whole lot better financially than the generations coming after them, and so this is very troubling news.
And here is another very troubling fact from that same article…
Not only are more older people seeking relief through bankruptcy, but they also represent a widening slice of all filers: 12.2 percent of filers are now 65 or older, up from 2.1 percent in 1991.
The jump is so pronounced, the study says, that the aging of the baby boom generation cannot explain it.
Of course it isn’t just Baby Boomers that are drowning in debt.
Collectively, U.S. households are 13.15 trillion dollars in debt, which is the highest level in American history.
All over the nation, companies are also going bankrupt at a staggering pace. This week we learned that the biggest mattress retailer in the entire country “Is considering a potential bankruptcy filing”…
Mattress Firm Inc, the largest U.S. mattress retailer, is considering a potential bankruptcy filing as it seeks ways to get out of costly store leases and shut some of its 3,000 locations that are losing money, people familiar with the matter said.
Mattress Firm’s deliberations offer the latest example of a U.S. brick-and-mortar retailer struggling financially amid competition from e-commerce firms such as Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O).
We have seen retailer after retailer go down, and it is being projected that this will be the worst year for retail store closings ever.
But it isn’t just retailers that are hurting. Yesterday, I came across an article about a television manufacturer in South Carolina that just had to lay off “94 percent of their workforce”…
A TV manufacturer based in South Carolina have blamed Trump’s trade tariffs for laying off 94 percent of their workforce.
Element Electronics now has just eight employees in their company after letting 126 members of staff go.
They said the tariffs imposed on goods from China mean they can no longer buy essential components for their TVs.
During this next economic downturn, I believe that we are going to see the biggest wave of corporate bankruptcies that this country has ever seen.
State and local governments don’t go bankrupt, but they are drowning in debt as well. State and local government debt has ballooned to the highest levels on record in recent years, and one of the big reasons for this is because we are facing a coming pension crisis that threatens to absolutely overwhelm us…
Many cities and states can no longer afford the unsustainable retirement promises made to millions of public workers over many years. By one estimate they are short $5 trillion, an amount that is roughly equal to the output of the world’s third-largest economy.
Certain pension funds face the prospect of insolvency unless governments increase taxes, divert funds or persuade workers to relinquish money they are owed. It is increasingly likely that retirees, as well as new workers, will be forced to take deeper benefit cuts.
Meanwhile, the federal government continues to engage in incredibly reckless financial behavior. When Barack Obama was elected, we were 10 trillion dollars in debt, and now we are 21 trillion dollars in debt.
What that means is that we have been adding more than a trillion dollars to the national debt per year since 2008, and we continue to steal more than 100 million dollars every single hour of every single day from future generations of Americans.
And even though the Republicans have been in control in Washington, very few of our leaders seem to want to alter the trajectory that we are on. But if something is not done, absolute disaster is a certainty. At this point, it is being projected that our debt will reach 30 trillion dollars by 2028 if we stay on this current path. It would be difficult to overstate the grave danger that we are facing, but nothing is being done to turn things around. Here are some more projections from the Congressional Budget Office…
In 2022, the Highway Trust Fund will run out of full funding. In 2026, the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund follows. In 2032, the Social Security trust fund surpluses run dry, and all beneficiaries regardless of age or income level will face a 21 percent across-the-board benefit cut. Before 2030, we could have trillion-dollar annual interest payments. Interest rates have been low until now, but that is changing. As rates go up, we have to pay more on new debt and on all accumulated debt.
The amount we pay in interest on the debt is set to triple over the next ten years. But if interest rates rise just 1 point higher than expected, the government will owe an extra $1.9 trillion over 10 years.
On top of everything else, everyone else around the world has been on a massive debt binge as well.
Total global debt is well above 200 trillion dollars, and it has nearly quadrupled over the past 17 years.
Are you starting to understand why they call this a “debt bubble”?
Unfortunately, all debt bubbles must burst eventually, and the one that we are in right now is definitely on borrowed time.
***
Michael Snyder is a nationally syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is publisher of The Most Important News and the author of four books including The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters.
Michael T. Snyder is a graduate of the University of Florida law school and he worked as an attorney in the heart of Washington D.C. for a number of years.Today, Michael is best known for his work as the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog and The American Dream.
If you want to know what is coming and what you can do to prepare, read his latest book [amazon text=Get Prepared Now!: Why A Great Crisis Is Coming & How You Can Survive It&asin=150522599X].
Its just paper – print some more
“Bankruptcy Soars As The Country Grapples With An Unprecedented Debt Problem”
No surprise here. Bankruptcies ALWAYS increase as the business cycle comes to an end. I mentioned that here YEARS ago when I listed the characteristics of a US economy as the business cycle collapses.
Yeah, it’s in the archives. 🙂
“What that means is that we have been adding more than a trillion dollars to the national debt per year since 2008, ”
Americans are not living beyond their means. American taxpayers are subsidizing the New World Order Agenda. ILLEGALS cost US $500 billion a year; China, $400 billion; the EU, $160 billion; Mexico $125 billion; and Canada $25 billion …. EVERY YEAR !!!
The Nibiru System is passing, will pass in the foreseeable future (pun intended). The NWO PTB know this, which is why they have been so overt in spending American money to advance their cause. While the aftermath of this event is somewhat predictable, there are many variables. The PTB are working hard to prepare for these CHANGES and impose their Agenda upon US, in the Aftermath.
The NWO is both Fascist & Communist; Right & Left. What each has in common with the other is their exploitation of the US Taxpayer to achieve their goals.
The Right want a government of the corporation, by the corporation, and for the corporation.
The Left, a socialist government that eliminates all personal liberty and private property, with everything and everyone subservient to the PARTY where Party Officials will make decisions for the good of all: “from each according to their ability, to each according to their need” and codify these decisions in Rules & Regulations for all to follow.
Google the “45 Goals of Communism” and the Eight Point Plan of Saul Alinsky, HRC Mentor. The NWO (RIGHT & LEFT) have both adopted these goals & methods to achieve their Agenda.
America is the THIRD WAY: Individual liberty, personal responsibility, self-reliance, and a deep and abiding faith in Almighty God from WHOM we derive our Natural Rights. TRUMP is trying to restore America to this Third Way. 🙂
“TRUMP is trying to restore America to this Third Way”
You honestly believe that? Keep watching the show, because the t.v. reality host(trump) is setting us up. Just like any other President before him.
Yes I believe that. TRUMP is UNLIKE any other POTUS before him in all of American History, with perhaps the exception of Washington or Lincoln or Jefferson. Another six years with a massive Red Tsunami behind him in the midterms and America will be great again. The TRUMP REVOLUTION will be unlike anything that has ever happened: reversing and eliminating the NWO who want to enslave US and serve their Agenda.
He is single-handedly crushing and OUTSMARTING the NWO at every turn: the Trade War is evidence of that. Few men have the personal strength to face and defeat the Democrats, RINOS, Deep State, and LSM … all simultaneously; and he keeps on winning while the Left keeps whining.
The economy should have tanked by now, particularly if Hillary had become POTUS. The result would have been deficits even more massive than we have already.Hillary’s administration would have doubled down on Rules & Regulations, tax increases, and opened the FLOODGATES to anyone who could cross the border.
In these almost two years since the election, America would be in complete shambles and lining up right behind Venezuela, Mexico, and Argentina as a shithole country. War in EUROPE with Russia would have already happened urged on by the likes of John McCain.
The only reason the economy has not yet tanked is the confidence that TRUMP has instilled in the nation and the policies that he has had enacted that roll back the socialism of President Obola, unleash our corporations and our creativity with small businesses.
Globalism is treason. In two short years there is already a NEW, NEW WORLD ORDER and TRUMP is re-writing that Agenda in the Spirit of America. 🙂
The Skipper had it right!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXId5jOTxdg
I was thinking more of this Video..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRbREEsh_og
“Bankruptcy Soars As The Country Grapples With An Unprecedented Debt Problem”
but, but, but, Trump said America is economically stronger than it has been in 40 years! This can’t be true, unless someone is lying?
Someone is lying.
Errrr if I have 10 bucks in my bank account am I bankrupt? This country is mentally bankrupt for sure!
Thirty years would be accurate, 40 is a stretch. With the ascension of GHW Bush to the Oval Office and the installation of his NWO Polices (GLOBALISM) to share American wealth with China at the expense of the American Middle Class; America began its economic decline and de-industrialization.
The policies of subsequent NWO Presidents: Clinton, Bush jr, and Obola exacerbated that decline as the Uber Rich Investment Class, systematically dismantled 70,000 American factories and shipped them to China to magnify their profits with cheap labor and manipulated currencies. These actions facilitated by the collusion of the Political Class who are funded by the investment Class, transfering fully half of the wealth of the Middle Class to the Uber Rich 10%.
Despite this treason by the Political Class, the resilience of the American people and their economy is, RIGHT NOW, stronger than any other nation on earth; including China and Germany. By the time TRUMP leaves office, America will be stronger and more dominate than ever because TRUMP understands how to inspire confidence and release the natural creative energy of the American People. This is our strength and that strength FLOWS from our Constitution.
America is the THIRD WAY !!! 🙂
Durangokiddy,, You been wrong more than right. Yes its in the archives..
Ahhh the name Nikki Haley (neo-con) appears. TV manufacturing in South Carolina? Read on
h ttps://www.fitsnews.com/2018/08/07/element-electronics-crony-capitalist-fail/
Element Electronics never intended to locate its facility in Fairfield County, and that its decision to do so was part of crony capitalist negotiations with former governor Nikki Haley.
What happened? In the thick of what many expected to be a fierce fight for reelection, Haley desperately wanted to claim that she had created jobs in all forty-six South Carolina counties.
Originally, Element wanted to locate its facility in Sumter County – but Haley reportedly talked company executives into building the plant in Fairfield County instead (the final county she needed to check off of her list). And yes, the deal was done just days before Haley kicked off her 2014 reelection campaign (which included the “jobs in all forty-six counties” spiel).
Kev, Its called Fascism, Private Corporations in bed with politicians.
ARTICLE: Apple, Google, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter Subvert the US Constitution, Free Speech, and American Liberty
Part of this article:
In the Western World today nothing is more endangered than truth. No public or private institution, whether the CIA, FBI, or Justice (sic) Department, or Facebook, Apple, Google, Youtube, or Twitter, CNN, NPR, MSNBC, New York Times, or Washington Post has any respect whatsoever for truth.
Truth is in the way of hidden agendas. The presstitutes serve the hidden agendas, not the truth.
Nothing is less welcome in Western political systems than the truth. Yet the Russian, Chinese, North Korean, Iranian, and Indian governments still puruse meaningless agreements with Washington, agreements, like the Iranian one, that have no possibility whatsoever of being kept by Washington.
Washington intends to exercise hegemony over the world. The neoconservatives, who together with I-sr-ael with whom the neoconservatives are solidly allied, control US foreign policy and are firmly committed to US hegemony over the world. If the governments of Russia, China, Iran, India, and North Korea do not understand this, they are in for a hard ride.
FIGHTBACK:
What can we do? Never purchase another Apple product. Desert Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Spotify. Terminate all Google email accounts and never use a Google search engine. These firms are Nazi Gestapo firms. They deserve our condemnation. These despicable companies should be nationalized or abolished or arrested for aiding the plot to overthrow the President of the United States.
They are the agents of evil.
Read the entire Article here. ht tps://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2018/08/07/apple-google-youtube-facebook-twitter-subvert-the-us-constitution-free-speech-and-american-liberty/
In a perfect world you are so right sheblows, just pull the plug on commie sites, but in todays reality it is difficult to just pull the plug on these commie pushing tech firms. Especially if like me you run a small business. I have no choice but to use some of these services. I can do a few things like using Startpage instead of Google, and I shut off my personal facebook, but we must admit to some extent that they have us by the gonads in many cases until alternatives that work as well and have the numbers of users are established. In all the cases I can think of the possible alternatives are small and just getting started or have not yet started. In my case I will have to support and encourage the freedom loving sites but think it will be a long while before they can compete with the established sites. KF
Why do you have no choice?
Are you selling a product or service?
Or are you just hosting Google AdSense ads?
There are hundreds of alternatives to any computer service you can name.
If enough people abandon the big names and move to any of the lesser services, the lesser services will get bigger. Real competition will weed out the crap. Right now sheep are just defaulting to the most popular sites, regardless of their quality or evilness.
if you abandon all these electronic sources you will not be able to see what the enemy is doing
I don’t use any of those sites…and I pretty much knew Element Electronic laid off 126 employees–imagine that!!!
Want my daily sites list I visit???
yes, what are the daily sites you visit. Please share your list. thank you.
Thanks for that very interesting bit of information K2.
I saw this same sort of betrayal of local citizens when I lived in Louisiana involving Bass Pro Shops. Local governments gave ridiculous incentives that bankrupted local businesses but naturally kept the taxes in place for the owners and workers at those failed businesses. Instead of shifting the tax burden to Bass Pro Shops, the local governments simply increased their own budgets. There should have been public lynchings but the poor people of South Louisiana are too mild mannered and nice for that.
The loss of 126 jobs at Element Electronics is a small price to pay for the repatriation of American Factories and jobs. It’s more than likely that many times that job loss would occur somewhere in America if the Chinese monolith were not checked and allowed to continue their predatory practices.
China will FOLD in the Trade War. They cannot win it and they have made a big strategic mistake. It will cost them more, the longer they resist.
Mattress Firm was completely mismanaged, and maybe on purpose. While the company will fold I have no doubt that the Management of this company has done exceedingly well for themselves as they move on into retirement. Classic corporate pump and dump that has been obvious to anyone paying attention over the past five years; and all within the law.
Only the shareholders will lose. 🙁
I agree durango–but I’m not one of those 126.
AND…I’m not the owner/builder of how many years for that company??
Oh, wait…according to the asshole..he didn’t build that!!!:-(
Americans had to adapt to the changes and hardships that Globalism imposed upon them. Families and businesses were ruined, relationships destroyed, and careers and pensions cut short.
Forewarned is well armed.
If you live by the Sword of Globalism, you may die by it now. Adapt to this new, (old) economic environment or die. There is a new sheriff in town and he is a Patriot. 🙂
“China will FOLD in the Trade War.”
I’m sure that is what FOX News says, but this Trade War will hurt us more, than it will them. Most countries are pulling away or in the process of removing themselves from the dollar. While these other countries are doing so, they are also reestablishing themselves economically and building strong partnerships with others than us.
We will be left behind to fend for ourselves, just you watch and see.
America has more enemies now, then it ever did before. You can thank our Government for their tireless bullying tactics.
“I’m sure that is what FOX News says, but this Trade War will hurt us more …”
First I don’t watch FOX NEWS, CNN, Alex Jones, etc. I make my analysis from the education, experience, and special expertise that I possess.
No offense, but You obviously do not have the economic or business education and experience to understand reality; which is why I posted a link to someone at Zero Hedge who supported my contention that China will suffer more … way more. If they do not reverse course quickly and the full impact of what is coming hits China, it will erupt in Chaos.
Snowflake, you need to do a lot more research and btw … quit watching CNN … its Fake News and Propaganda.
TRUMP needs to play it low key now to try to give the Chinese a way to save face. I expect that heads will roll in Beijing. If it were NK instead of China, the Party Official responsible would be answering to an anti-aircraft gun !!! 🙂
“We will be left behind to fend for ourselves, just you watch and see.America has more enemies now, then it ever did before. You can thank our Government for their tireless bullying tactics.”
Snowflake you need to get a brain AND some backbone. FUCK THE ENTIRE WORLD !!! (READ WASHINGTON’S VISION) They were taking advantage of US with the collusion of our own elected officials. The table was tilted, and the odds were stacked against US; which is why the American taxpayer has been shelling out more than $1.2 TRILLION A YEAR, EVERY YEAR to subsidize the world and the quality of our national economic life was deteriorating at a Third World rate.
That is simply unsustainable (to coin a phrase), and grossly unfair. CRIMINALLY UNFAIR I would add. Unless you want America and Americans to wind up like Venezuela and its citizens …. by giving it away …. to UNDESERVING individuals, companies, and countries.
Think: “From everyone according to their ability, to everyone according to their need”. That is the economic definition of COMMUNISM !!! That is what GLOBALISM is … and at the expense and to the detriment of every American.
Globalism is Anti-American. Globalism is treason. America is the THIRD WAY !!! 🙂
Hi there Anon
Has it ever occurred to you that if a trade war really hurt America more than China, China wouldn’t be standing on its hind legs trying to prevent it?
DK
I can’t understand the validity in the entire story of a very recent US TV manufacturer to begin with and secondarily how it is effected by tariffs on imported goods shutting them down. Assuming there is a true reason then the components were manufactured in China and the TV was just assembled here; hardly US “manufacturing”. Neo-Con Nikki Haley’s name anywhere associated with it? Suspicious, very suspicious.
K2: Exactly. TV’s were assembled there. The company may have gotten a local tax break for “manufacturing” tv’s. Hard to say without a lot more data. 🙂
And they just laid off all but 8 employees due to the tariff war and not getting supplies.
126 jobless, but hey, Trump’s unemployment rates are great!!
We are never ever ever told the whole story.
There’s the problem. We need to start manufacturing again.
They were lying about not being able to get parts. They just don’t like the new prices. They are too used to getting stuff manufactured using slave labor.
People want to get a good wage, but they don’t want to buy products made by people getting that same good wage. They will buy Walmart cheap crap that breaks, rather than paying more for a good American product that lasts a lot longer.
The tariffs are an incentive to buy American. There will be some pain until there is more American manufacturing and people get used to their real standard of living.
“The tariffs are an incentive to buy American.”
Yes, but they are more than that. They are also the only way to level the economic global playing field, without revoking China’s “Most Favored Nation Status”, and repatriating factories manufacturing products sold in America. It will take time to rebuild factories in America.
I have no problem with Buicks being manufactured in China and sold to Chinese consumers. I do have a BIG problem with Buick, which is an American company, producing cars in China and shipping them to the US for sale so that the Uber Rich Investment Class can magnify their profits using cheap labor and a manipulated currency. 🙂
To paraphrase Mr Micawber’s famous, and oft-quoted, recipe for happiness:
“Annual income 42,000 dollars, result happiness. Annual expenditure 42,500 dollars, result misery.”
Stop buying rubbish you don’t need.
Ya nailed it Anon. Stop buying useless crap.
Stop squandering your heard-earned cash! For 50 years that I worked, I brought PB & Jelly sammiches to work–saved my money. Co-workers went out at lunch daily for select Beaujolais wine, grilled calamari appetizers, high-end main courses, select desserts. Put is all on “the plastic.” Now these dumb-asses wonder why they are FLAT BROKE?
PUH-LEEZE! As my Daddy would tell us kids: “The way you make your bed, is the way you’ll sleep in it.”
SLEEP CHAPTER #7 PIGS!
Yep..Live BELOW your means and understand the difference between wanting something and needing something and you’ll be OK..Try living like the “Jones’s” making $35-45k a year and you’ll probably be filing bankruptcy..Too many people worry about what their neighbors/family/friends have,and try to out do them,and it usually ends up getting them head over hills in debt and it snowballs from there..Quit worrying about what other people have and live your own life..
Elk, Spot on! I have never wished to live some magazine life or have as much shit as the neighbors. I live well below my means and have for years. I have NO DEBT at all and outright own my property and house, vehicles etc. All paid with CASH! Now my co workers (who work every hour they can get) are enslaved by massive debt. They are jealous of ME! I work less than 6 months a year and own everything including a nice cabin where I spend most of the summer/ spring. I have an older truck and have NEVER bought a new car EVER! Cars and RV’s are the WORST investment you can make (except bernie made-off). Ya my retirement isn’t going to be a lot because of less working hours but I am debt free and that says it all. I asm basically retired half the year which is great because I am young enough to enjoy life and I do! If I waited till 65 I would retire in pain and misery lol. Oh what fun that would be. BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU OWN, IT WILL END UP OWNING YOU!
You’re so right Seasoned_C. – add one more thing. Don’t trust anyone but yourself for your future plans. Most especially, don’t trust a form of socialism for your retirement security. Be it, county, State, Federal…. what kind of fool would let any group of legislators and politicians control one’s finances? Rather like trusting a dindu Antifa BLM activist be your advisor in matters concerning proper behavior. Yield your personal responsibility for how your life turns out if you want; just, be prepared to live with the results.
if you are loosing your house through no fault of your own, burn it down.
Goofygal: must look accidental like a space heater next to curtains or something left on stove. One man in this town was sentenced to jail for burning his house down before it was foreclosed.
Foreclosure?? You a good drywall man?? I’m not great, but I can show you how to open a little hole in each room, drop fish and shrimp in, close the hole with compound, sand a little/paint over!!!
I know you know why.
Easier than that, just cut the power, remove light switches and the boxes, insert what you wish, then reinstall with no trace.
Oh, thanks evil archivist–that is much easier.
People lean on credit when the wages they earn do not compensate for cost of living.
Wages, contrary to the fakery you are hearing, are not going up.
America, The Broke.
Chilly:
So true.
Cost of living increases were the first thing negotiated out of contracts between company owners and their employees. Business owners were aware of the real cost to themselves in the long run, the future. Workers tend to think about the here and now. Owners tend to think about past history, the present reality, and the future consequences and rewards. A guaranteed cost of living increase is something no employee should underestimate. If you still have a guaranteed cost of living increase in your company contract, lucky you.
_
And dump a few gallons of diesel fuel on the property as well. All in the gardens or grass.
When I was in communist, public highschool, my classmates were literal, fatherless bastards. They had elder siblings, in prison. These jailbirds would instruct their younger brothers, in my classes, on how to run the school, like a prison yard.
“Many cities and states can no longer afford the unsustainable retirement promises made to millions of public workers over many years.”
You will never guess, who was first in line, to become public workers.
Alot of clenched fists of solidarity at Mayday BBQ’s, and LARP’ing as historical Communist figures, in the parades.
There is an attitude of coming into people’s yards, unannounced, making adjustments, and reporting on people, even once you are retired.
(I also hope that insolvent Boomers, playing rich bitch, go to debtor’s prisons.)
Where does the blame for the evolving situation belong? Obscene profits endlessly sought by the corporate class? The bankers rigging the system for their own gain? The transfer of America’s jobs out of country for greater profit? Greed must be the answer and the planned downfall the result. When campaigning for president Trump said that a trillion dollars would be spent on US infrastructure, instead that money was given to the Pentagon to continue war plans. Is that all that is left in America, the ability to murder millions to maintain criminal control? The US is not threatening Russia or China who are dumping US treasury bonds while the American economy is headed for the dump along with the dollar. 9-11 was the death of America, the people are too slow to catch on to complete treason and don’t believe it is staring them in the face. Wear your I voted stickers proudly.
Aljamo:
Everything you say is true. But, a US President is not able to do whatever he wants. He has terrific constraints from the real power, the international decision makers, trillionaires trump billionaires and they call the shots. I read that Trump is a brand name. Some Trump hotels are owned by Rothschild. Be grateful for small favors. Hillary, most likely, would have put in draconian laws to make the entire Country a “gun free zone”, put in a total lockdown with curfews and checkpoints, killed her opposition, and initiated WW3. So, ya. Wear your MAGA hat proudly.
_
”’Obscene profits endlessly sought by the corporate class? The bankers rigging the system for their own gain? The transfer of America’s jobs out of country for greater profit? Greed must be the answer and the planned downfall the result”’
Oh, hell yeah, keep voting.
Health care costs are out of reality. If Congress had to accept AHCA, they would immediately repeal it. How the citizens of this country allow this is pitiful. When Obama passed this resolution, we should have been in the streets. Health care costs used to comprise less than 5% of household budgets 20 years ago, it has increased five fold. Health care by itself is accelerating our demise.
Mobile phone costs are excessive. Everyone has to have one…..why?
“Social” media, are you kidding me? “Social” media is the most anti-social behavior around. Everyone is self-centered, all about ME …… instead of WE.
Housing, utilities, insurance, food, fuel….all have increased, yet none are accounted for in the consumer pricing index or inflation. Incredible.
We are all complicit. We should be ashamed of ourselves. The apathy in America is overwhelming. By the time everyone wakes up, it will be too late.
Insurance is the actual cause of the problem.
If you used your auto insurance to pay for oil changes, new tires, wiper blades, etc., it would cost a fortune. Then the prices for oil changes, etc. would skyrocket because price discovery would be gone. You wouldn’t care how much an oil change cost, if insurance was paying for it.
That’s exactly what happened with health insurance and drug insurance.
When I was young, very few had health insurance. My father would take me to the doctor, who had no staff except for one nurse. When the doctor was done, my father would give the doctor some money ($10 or $20), and he would pull out his wallet and put it in there.
When I was in college, the average prescription cost between $2 and $3. I had an expensive inhaler that cost me $13. Now my copay for an inhaler is almost $50. There’s no telling how much the actual retail price is now.
The solution is to allow people to buy insurance that covers only catastrophic expenses. It would be cheaper, as not everyone would be using it every year.
Do you know what are the primary reasons insurance is high?
The way managed care opperates is physicians are paid higher wages through contracts when they see patients LESS. The insurance company is the consumer of physicians, not the patient. The patient is the consumer of the insurance policy.
This means the physicians use the cheapest form of treatment which is taking medicine. But the physicians spend an average of less than ten minutes with each patients, so they are slammed with high patient workloads per day.
That means that physicians have nearly no troubleshooting time and that is why so many illnesses are undiagnosed. These become chronic and undiagnosed, until finally at a worse pathological state of disease, they then are expensively treated.
In addition, in order for drugs to operate, since they are primarily oral in nature, a patient must take all their medicines at the right time, in the right dosage, and following the directions like at bedtime, in the morning before meals, with meals, etc.
But what is reality? Two problems emerge. The first is obesity alters the therapeutic dosage required. The second is 70-80% of patients take an insufficient amount or self-medicate and never achieve a persistant therapeutic dosage in their bloodstream. Thus the drug amount is too low, or too high, and their conditions worsen.
Obesity is so prevalent that young people are having old people diseases and states of health. That means lots more respiratory, circulatory, digestive, bone and muscle aches, and the latter requires very expensive orthopedic surgery especially to the knees and spine. And it is thought this lethal combination synergistically causes far more mental illness and more dementia.
That means much more drug and alcohol abuse. And that creates enormous instability in relationships, and so the sabotage feeds itself and becomes self-perpetuating.
How do you fix this very complex problem? The most likely pragmatic solution is effectively pay patients to be healthy by lowering their health costs. A faciltator challenges them to better maintain their body by exercise, eating healthy, having a correct body mass index, lower blood pressure, use group therapy, and measure drug therapeutic levels, and detect earlier chronic states, and take mandated drug and STD testing.
The facilitator meets with the patient quarterly to ensure goals are met, and that is reported to the insurance company, and an actuary re-evaluates the insurance premium. Everyone wins but it is intrusive. It would be unneccessary if lazy patients merely took care of themselves and exercised and carefully kept medical journals to report signs of disease states.
By doing so, much of the financial risk drops, thus insurance rates drop, thus more people have affordable healthcare.
It’s been theorized by having a national exercise program as Kennedy once started as an intiative for teens, then HUGE MEDICAL SAVINGS would occur.
Well, our president filed bankruptcy 4 times, so…..
Business never personal, HUGE difference.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/10/how-donald-trump-destroyed-his-empire-and-dumped-ruins-others-timeline/
Uncle Sam is the cartoon character that depicts the United States. The political cartoonists need to show him in a rain barrel held up by suspenders. The American eagle has been plucked and is ready for Colonel Sanders. With the cost of carrying the national debt annually, it is impossible to cut discretionary spending to balance the budget. We just keep sinking deeper.
Their definition of “discretionary” needs to change.
Consider that out of 330 million Americans, 63 million receive Social Security disbursments. So every single one of them would have to declare bankruptcy IF something happened to disrupt SS.
69% of Americans have less than 1,000 in savings and therefore could easily have to declare bankruptcy.
31% of Millennials are living with their parents or else they would have to declare bankruptcy.
Wages have not kept up since 1990 and due to inflation, the median household income (two people or More) is $55,000 yet $66,000 would be the normal bluecollar wage for ONE working person. All of the folks could easily be bankrupt.
42.6 million Americans are on EBT cards. All of them could end up going bankrupt.
It is not farfetched that the American economy would implode due to globalism, free trade, feminism, and deficit spending.
And realize that we purchase the lion’s share of the world’s exports, and if we can’t buy them, then systemic global financial collapse will occur.
And not only that but then we wouldn’t or couldn’t give military and economic aid and therefore massive geopolitical effects would totally change the globe.
But, but, but…I thought we “owe it to ourselves” so not to worry? Hahahahaha…
“When they find out how to burn water
And the gasoline car is gone
When an airplane flies without any fuel
And the satellite heats our home
We’ll all be drinkin’ that free bubble up
And eating that rainbow stew.”
“Rainbow Stew” Merle Haggard
So much of this massive pile of feces is just plum unacceptable! The Gov’t has been so completely incompetent and irresponsible wit OUR god damn filthy money. And as far as pensions go, they should have to pay people every single god damned dollar they are owed. They have all known about all of this for so long and as usual they chose to just ignore it and play stupid and once again they will just screw over the average sucker American worker and that is complete garbage just like this country – the U.S. has become nothing but a vile gutter of slop. There is just no way possible all of this shit can continue.
Think about bankruptcy and debt forgiveness this way. What is the monumental cost when millions go bankrupt on the US economy? Why is it that a corporation can fudge and claim bankruptcy and be bailed out by the feds, but we balk at it in individuals? Would you rather pay the colossal generational costs due to indigents or forgive their debts which helps both them, the feds, the taxpayers, and the banks?
Sure maybe YOU are free in clear, but the preponderance of americans are not. What the government could do is grant a forgiveness of taxes to those who are free and clear that matches some average savings by debt forgiveness. Or they could allow some percent
Think about bankruptcy and debt forgiveness this way. What is the monumental cost when millions go bankrupt on the US economy? Why is it that a corporation can fudge and claim bankruptcy and be bailed out by the feds, but we balk at it in individuals? Would you rather pay the colossal generational costs due to indigents or forgive their debts which helps both them, the feds, the taxpayers, and the banks?
Sure maybe YOU are free in clear, but the preponderance of americans are not. What the government could do is grant a forgiveness of taxes to those who are free and clear that matches some average savings by debt forgiveness. Or they could allow some percentage of debt forgiveness to be applied to the children of those who are free and clear. Or the feds could grant a 30 year TBond in place as an asset to those who are free and clear which likely would then be transferred to your estate inheritors, though this would be income.
Debt forgiveness is not income but increases net worth, thus is terrific as then there are no taxes but frees up disposable income and makes a very robust and sound economy. This acts as a wonderful stimulus but doesn’t create inflation.
A good start would be abolish welfare and don’t have kids you can’t easily afford.
you can pass all the laws you want but those city county and state pensions will never be paid because the individual states cant print money
With Nibiru passing, everything will be RESET. The CHANGES will mark the end of everything that was and the Beginning of everything to be. Pensions and promises will disappear overnight. So will pour freedom if WE do not insist upon retaining it.
Remember that WE have the power to adapt to these changes and use the Crisis to OUR advantage. If WE don’t, the Globalists will.
When push comes to shove and a rogue government agent comnes for your guns & ammo …. give them your ammo. One shot at a time or in three round bursts. But give them your ammo !!!
The NWO can be eliminated overnight and at 500 yards. make a list. Check it twice. Know who is a Patriot and who is not !!! 🙂
Kiddykins – and you boast to everyone how clever you are yet you believe in twaddle like nibiru:
“In 1995, Nancy Lieder – a woman who claims to have an implant in her brain from a childhood encounter with aliens – claimed that Nibiru would pass closely to Earth in 2003 with terrifying consequences.
She said that the Earth would stop spinning for exactly 5.9 terrestrial days, before the North and South Poles would physically move, disrupting the planet’s magnetic core and causing the crust to split open across the globe.
Nancy even urged people to have their pets put to sleep so that they wouldn’t need to live through the horrors and disruption… that never happened.
In 2012, people were on tenterhooks as December 21 approached.”
Or, if you prefer this alternative version of lunacy:
“David Meade is an American Christian conspiracy theorist who has made predictions about Doomsday.
He wrote a book called Planet X – The 2017 Arrival – insisting Nibiru would crash into Earth in October – but then moved it forward by a few weeks.
His theory was given a boost this year when NASA discovered a new planet in the solar system, which they named Planet Nine.
Meade, however, insists that this planet is actually Nibiru, or Planet X.
The American’s previous theories and predictions about the end of the world have all been wrong – as is proved by the fact that we are all still here.
In his earlier theories, Meade suggested that the mysterious “Planet X” – or Nibiru – could be headed towards Earth to destroy it on September 23, 2017.
However, when the date passed without apocalyptic incident, Meade insisted that people misunderstood his Planet X prophecy.
He then claimed that October 15 would herald seven years of nuclear war and natural disasters, marking “the end of the world as we now know it”.
Once again the day came and went without it coming to light.”
Kiddykins, your self delusion walks hand in hand with your incipient madness.
Do some independent research before you open your fly-trap and your brains fall out. Start here:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=universal+sky+media
Then read Revelation.
Nibiru is the synthesis that can explain all of the mysteries about past earth civilizations; both above and below the water. The sunken city off Japan, for example, is 300 MILES long.
You are a fucking moron !!! 🙂
Here is a sample, Brainiac !!! 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOL94qCoyhA&t=1s
Kiddykins – you really are a brainwashed old fart! You even believe in boob tube baby videos – they’re make believe nonsense without a shadow of scientific credibility. Linking to boob tube instantly discredits you from any serious debate on everything!
And why should I read a fairy story written for childishly geriatric morons aimed directly at low iq retards?
Join the grown up human race kiddykins. Oops, sorry, planet nibiru’s inhabitants say “no can do, kiddykins too important”! You really are way beyond a joke…not even a travesty of a joke, especially when you give a link to boob tube…Sheesh.
Its a whole world problem/ issue
The whole world economic financial system is going to collapse soon – before 2025.
Then you know what happens – YUP the SHTF.
Donald Trump would NEVER have been selected President if he were not on board with ushering in the NWO. Not that Hitlery wasn’t. But if he wasn’t full on board with that agenda, no way would he be POTUS. Stop believing the illusions they create. Accept that he’s NOT one of us.
He is US. And his policies reflect that fact. Check the recent history. Hillary was supposed to win in a landslide, according to the propaganda. Polls were falsified. Votes were rigged. Everywhere the elite were against him.
He beat the Democrats, the RINOS, the LSM, the FBI, The CIA, Deep State, and all of the Billions that Soros threw at the election. He beat 16 other men vying for the nomination. Everyone was against him, but the collective wisdom of the American People knew better.
American is awake. Americans are aware. Red tsunami in November !!! You can take that to the bank !!! 🙂
Obama did more to harm American Christians than any other president.
My worst fear was another Clinton presidency as it would have destroyed the US republic.
And then, as if by a miracle, Trump wins. But to me, the greatest achievement happened twice when at rallies, Melania opened the ceremony with the Lord’s Prayer. It made me misty eyed as a long time ago, no one would have thought anything about it, but now, it seems radical. Now we actually have a First Lady again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwFoBvYlC1o
Imagine if the US government enacted a policy where every six months, $1,000 would be forgiven of morgage debt ie reduce what is owed on your principal. In 5 years, Americans would have saved an immense amount of mortgage payments yet saw no rise in income or tax owed.
This would generate savings. This would make a vast amount of trillions saving the American economy. This would create a huge of jobs. It would greatly stabilize and strengthen marriages.
And it costs nothing as the banks could write off the debt and have a tax incentive. It would help 100% of Americans, not just those in mortgage debt.
But what would it do for the pension funds, money funds, corporations, countries and institutions that invest in those MBS underlying those mortgages so that borrowers have the funds to purchase a home ???
And here’s the rub. The banks do not own those mortgages any more. Those mortgages were securitized and tranched long ago and far, far away. 🙂
You signed on the line, fookin pay it and stop whining. If you were too stupid to do the math then you were too stupid to have a mortgage in the first place….. trailers are cheap.
None of the shit matters except for the yield curve inversion. The Fed is going to keep raising rates and it’s gonna continue on in the usual boom/bust cycle except this time it’s the mother of all economic Fed induced by bubbles…and of course Trump will be the fall guy just like Bush Jr was in 08. But Pres Trump has moxie and will pull us thru. Way better than Hiterly.
You have to be totally ignorant of economics and possibly brain-damaged not to see how the American people have been manipulated by the globalists preaching free trade. Since NAFTA and GATT were first mentioned, there was insufficient public support, but corrupt politicians took payoffs to support these initiatives.
But prior intiative by Nixon opening up America to Chinese trade began us down this road. Later intiatives to help the former USSR continued that earlier effort.
These Neocons are some crazy malevolent folks. Look up the history. It began in the Democratic party, not the Republicans. Some Democrats realized the folly of their earlier liberal leftist views, turned a hard line towards Communism, and then embraced the military-industrial complex to oppose the Communists.
Eisenhower warned us that when those two forces operate it will severely damage the country as both feed off of the government teat. All that does is waste money as the United States has not defended its borders since the Spanish-American war in 1898. Instead, we’ve been WASTING money in foreign wars. Heck, we are terrible at this as every war since WW2 has been an ultimate failure or stalemate.
In history war lost money unless you gain and hold territory and can steal technology or natural resources. Otherwise the only ones to profit are armament makers.
And the USA has STUPIDLY given back all land since 1898. Do you realize this? There is no American empire. Every empire in history has failed whether it was the Romans, the Spanish, the Ottomans, the Americans, the Russians, the Chinese, the British, or the French. All failed and either couldn’t hold the territory or the natural resources.
America is in a mess where retirement pensions, public or private are in jeopardy. Wages have declined to half their value due to inflation since 1990. Free Trade and Globalism destroyed the formerly robust American industrial base. And the cracks are so large that a third of Millenials are still home at age thirty. That translates to a ruined economy and has destroyed any hope of achieving middle class because while someone may seem to hit $35,000 in 1990 dollars, that is only worth 17,500 in 1990 dollars making them poor.
Feminism destroyed the country as well as prior it was rare for women to work in 1940. You have too many people chasing too few dollars and thus this causes lower wages and benefits.
International trade is slowly but surely wrecking American lives and the only logical way to remedy this is DEBT FORGIVENESS and tariffs. Following this, we switch to Isolationism (which was largely our pre-WW2 diplomatics stance) and BAN FREE TRADE in 95% of cases. There is no logic to having international trade if it harms American interests and the American people.
Either politicians serve the American people, who lend them power as their representatives in a contract,or we renege upon this contract as the standard polutician is a wolf who a liar who serves the globalists or the neocons or BOTH.
Less than 1% out of all dollars is printed. I wish every dollar had to be printed and was backed by silver and gold instead. But the reality is 99% are not but created out of thin air by banks loaning money to American citizens and the US government through the con game of fractional reserve lending.
This is why debt forgiveness is essential as if you or I attempted such a SCAM, we would be arrested and never released from prison. But the banks loan money they do not have. Therefore it is ridiculous to have folks whose lives were destroyed by politicians and bankers to be debt slaves.
Then when it caught up to them in 2008, the US government bailed out the banks, while the banks gave themselves enormous raises and foreclosed on properties!
It is INSANE to pay banks currency which they never loaned you as they didn’t have it, and then they CREATED THE INFLATION that made the country bankrupt itself, and then they invest your currency in places like China that TOOK YOUR JOBS.
This is crazy economic debacle we are in.
Take home ownership. Why is it the same home in California costs 10-15 times more than in Kentucky using the identical materials? Land speculation by the BANKS which have ruined land prices and home mortgages.
I would imagine alongside all the lawyers, there are ten times as many bankers IN HELL as usury is forbidden by the Bible.
The only hope is to rid ourselves of international trade, return to producing our own products, develop domestic energy sources, and foster small scale farming as the primary occupation of the People. Which was the Founding Fathers’ vision.
Human beings are designed by YHWH to be tribal and based upon rural agriculture not live artificially in urban regions and make widgets. Tribal village life would vastly reduce disease, crime, stress, mental illness, divorce, and bankruptcy.
There is no reason why domestic manufacturing cannot be in villages. Practically everyone could grow at least 1/4 of their own food. What is difficult is owning enough land for raising livestock. Even that is not insurmountable.
The best Social Security is multigenerational homes on small farms. The worst is expecting the federal government to pay for 20% of the populace in urban regions. The former worked from 1650-1940. The latter has been a debacle since the late eighties.
42,000 in 1990 was a decent wage for a bluecollar worker, but today due to inflation, you would have to earn $83,079 for it to be equivalent!
https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=42000&year1=199001&year2=201807
These are official economic numbers.
That’s the problem with runaway inflation. That 42,000 is worth half as much ie 21,000 today. This is precisely why people are broke as it won’t go as far.
People get stuck in the past and think, “Gosh 42,000 should be plenty of money. After all, that’s lower middle class.” But it is NOT any more. Everything is far more expensive.
The guy making 42,000 today, his money only buys 21,000 worth of goods and services and in effect his wages put him as the lower income level and in poverty. He would have to have a wife making $42,000 as well just to make the same exact amount as a guy in 1990 making $42,000.
Then due to inflation, that couple by both making 42,000 +42,000 = $84,000 then has the same purchasing power in 1990 dollars. But the median houshold income is $55,000 now. As that is worth HALF in 1990 dollars, that puts them as lower class at an effective $27,500.
In my region in Kentucky, wifes often would go back to work once the kids were in high school, and since it was inexpensive to live here, if both were making at least at total of $60,000 (equivalent to 120,000 in 1990 dollars) then typically they were free in clear on their mortgage, cars, credit cards, etc. They could send their kids to college, and by investing in a no load mutual fund, build up a very respectable asset earning at least 10% a year. Then since that exceeded inflation, they could retire. And they had a high net worth. So they could afford to take an annual trip as a family and spend about $2,000.
Lot’s of these folks ended up buying a going concern as a business or if braver, starting a business like a laundramatte or a liquor store or a landscape business. The latter was such a needed service and required such a small investment, paying low wages to transient workers, that you could easily succeed.
And then, the economy went BUST. Jobs started leaving in droves. Downsizings at industry caused waves upon waves of firing.
That meant if you had started a busines that had an inventory, you were sunk, but since landscaping for rental homes and apartments was still needed, by letting your transient workers go, and mowing the grass yourself, you still could make it as your own boss.
Imagine discarding Free Trade and the government cutting economic and military aid and becoming isolationist. In other words, returning to a pre-WW2 paradigm.
In a closed economic system, you basically are buying whatever goods and services that are offered by your neighbor. Wages go up or prices fall, but your goods and services are highly in demand as the consumer cannot buy internationally.
Wages would have to temporarily rise to lure American service workers away to new industry. But ultimately prices fall as there is no impetus to overproduce goods for international markets. Ultimately wages and prices fall and there is decent wage and inexpensve goods and all workers are happy and most can afford a home if they return to a multigenerational one.
In that pre-WW2 model, children, parents, and grandparents own a home together and take care of each other. There is no child or elder care, so women typically stay at home. But then Americans are not moving every seven years but fully paying down the principal. Thus it fosters a free and clear mindset. This stabilizes real estate prices and lowers rents. And it fosters gardening.
There is a high standard of living and decent wages and benefits and great economic stability. Corporations are not competing against unfair international competitors, but rather other corporations making similar goods or services. In a closed system, then prices stabilize (it’s the same effect as a gas war at service stations). Otherwise some corporations try to corner the market by buying out their competitors and ultimately then can raise prices as there is less domestic competition.
But you are not able to sell the volumes of commodities anymore as your market is smaller as your international sales dry up. This means those huge corporate farms would end and instead small and medium scale farming exists to service domestic markets. And with far less women working outside the home, all have gardens in the rural areas which are tended by teens as chores and sometimes by mothers and wives.
But in such a system, then with full employment, and a high demand to maintain infrastructure, then construction and maintenance is always in demand. So some who formerly worked in selling commodities transition to industry or construction.
This is why a closed economic system can work. And America having plenty of land, an educated workforce, and natural resources, can be a closed economic system.
Some other nation like China cannot. China cannot feed itself AND have high industrial output. For them, it’s either have high starvation of low paid peasants, or higher industrial output, but the peasants can’t afford it. Why? Their population is four times the population of America. And that is why before Nixon went to China, when it snowed there were no snow removal machines, everyone used a snow shovel! Wages were abysmally low as when your population is HIGH, then factories pay lower wages.
Take Japan. Japan could never be a closed economic system. Why? Japan lacks usable land for agriculture as most is mountainous. Yet in history, it had a higher than normal population, thus people often starved as agricultural output was very low and if a famine came, people died. On top of this fact, they lack natural resources. That means industrial output was limited.
Frankly, if the USA stopped free trade internationally, we would be the most affluent nation as Russia would have great difficulty being a closed system. So would Germany. So would all of the EU.
Russia has historic issues making enough food for itself and poor industrial output but does have land (albeit with poor growing seasons) and natural resources. By communism historically crippled their economy. The only good service they produced were terrific soldiers. And this is primarily due to a policy ofempire building and having to oppose German expansion.
The Middle East would collapse as there would be insufficient demand for their domestic oil production. They have low skilled workers and insufficient agricultural and industrial output. In Saudi Arabia, they make so much money on oil production, that their people sneer at working in a factory or producing goods or services, and so they have to hire foreign workers.
Africa would be a dismal place again too due to severe instability.
Now consider is America becomes a closed system and succeeds. Well without the American consumer to buy the EU’s goods, and Russian goods, and Chinese goods, and African goods, and Japanese good, then all of them STRUGGLE ONCE AGAIN. And the EU would be screwed because they foolishly absorbed millions of economic migrants and some actual refugees. The only rationale for absorbing millions was to have worker bees to produce goods for American consumers and sufficient workers for maintaining their aging population.
The EU would immediately collapse into seperate nation-states and most likely eject 2/3 of these economic migrants. And note that the preponderance are poorly educated and unabe to do the highly skilled jobs in industry or government services.
You just make this shit up, right? You don’t realize bankruptcies are down relative to last year and are down considerably since a high in 2010….and its not close. What are you going to make up next?
Just in case someone doubts the truth of your comments, here’s what the US Courts website says about bankruptcy filings: “Bankruptcy filings fell by 1.8 percent for the 12-month period ending March 31, 2018, compared with the year ending March 31, 2017. The data continues a national trend of declining bankruptcy filings since 2011.”
The new system of taxes will be the taxman asking “How much you got?”. Then they’ll let you keep five dollars of it.
I will have packed up and left the country long before then.