As the Federal Reserve lends billions to the richest and largest financial institutions in the United States (and abroad according to a recent court ordered document release), those most affected by our modern day depression are being driven into poverty.
As we pointed out in Here Comes the Sledgehammer, austerity measures are by all measures inevitable because over bloated local, state and federal budgets have reached a breaking point.
The latest example comes from Missouri, where the republican-led state Congress has taken steps to cut off unemployment benefits to thousands of workers laid off at the onset of the recession:
Thousands of people in Missouri who have been unemployed for more than a year soon will lose their jobless benefits, marking a significant victory for Republican fiscal hawks who are crusading against government spending.
When eligibility ends Saturday, Missouri will become the only state to voluntarily quit a federal stimulus program that offers extended benefits. Michigan, Arkansas and Florida also recently took steps to cut back on money going to the unemployed, although they targeted state benefits instead.
“We have to take a stand and say, `When is enough enough?’ and send a message to the federal government, and hopefully shame them into doing the right thing and quit spending money that they don’t have,” said state Sen. Jim Lembke, a Republican from St. Louis.
…
As a result, more than 34,000 unemployed residents in Missouri could miss out on $105 million in benefits over the next nine months. Unlike some other stimulus programs, Missouri’s unclaimed money would not be redistributed by the federal government to other states. It simply would remain unspent.
While we no doubt will be forced to make significant cuts to programs like unemployment insurance, utility assistance, health care, education and even government managed pensions, it is our view that these efforts, namely targeting unemployment assistance, are somewhat misguided.
The reason these people, for the most part, are without work is because there are no jobs. Cutting emergency unemployment benefits for workers will further impoverish those who have taken the brunt of the collapse thus far.
Despite what Senator Jim Lembke thinks, this will not “send a message” or “shame them into doing the right thing,” simply because they are not interested in this course of action. If they were, the Federal Reserve would have been audited years ago, regulatory agencies would do their job and actually prosecute those who broke the law on Wall Street and in the mortgage industry, and the US Congress would have put forward a fiscally feasible budget.
$105 million dollars is literally a drop in a 5 gallon bucket of water.
If state legislators intend to send a message to the Federal Government, they could start by following the lead of Utah who recently passed legislation to make gold legal tender, or focus on nullifying laws like President Obama’s universal health care legislation and other federal mandates that violate States’ rights under the tenth amendment.
We agree that spending and budget cuts need to happen, and fast, but taking aim at those who are already without work, struggling to pay the mortgage and having difficulty putting food on the table should be a last resort, not the opening salvo in a war on spending.
I tend to agree with Mac on this one. Instead of going after the the real cause of our problems ie international corporations, NAFTA, and other globalist programs that enable our jobs and technology to be offshored,they hit the poor.
Combine that with the upcoming inflation caused by the federal reserve and our currency going to nothing these people and all of us are gong to be in a world of hurt.
Get your gardens started and get ready for this summer it could be a “warm” one. God Bless, JamesÂ
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You just CAN’T use lives to play a game! This is WRONG! These scum bags (politicians, especially Repubs) are using people’s and their families’ lives to make it a point. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG! These people should not be let go without a punishment. I truly feel for the people of that State and the others at risk of the same fate. There simply aren’t jobs out there, and people must understand that and Americans must work in solidarity with all those who are less fortunate, the crisis is not only in Japan, or Ivory Coast, or Lybia, or Haiti, etc, the crisis is also happening here at home, and the People must react, help their fellow Americans who have been struggling to survive, I am sure that these same people rather have a job than a miserable unemployment check.
“Nearly ten thousand union members and their supporters clogged the streets of Los Angeles this weekend, to let everyone know that they’re not going to stand for what they call an attack on the middle class and the poor”.
I heard nothing about this, did you?. I wonder if Glenn Beck will talk about this, I wonder if we’ll see this on the nightly news or world news. I bet not!
They’ll keep us focus on the protest and war elsewhere. We are so manipulated it’s no wonder we all have such different opinions, we see and hear what we focus on!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcHEJ2xl_uo&feature=player_embedded
Right on Mac. Right on my man.
The American people are being treated like mushrooms, “fed s*%t and kept in the dark.” (paraphrased line from “The Departed”)
then after they quit receiving benefits….then unemplyoment number will drop again next month just like it dropped this month. the unemplyoment number isnt for us it for all the other countries buying our debt. it says to them “look our economy is strong buy our debt” they(your govt. officials )dont care about you, they know we see the true unemployment numbers. Rome fell and so will the U.S. history has way of repeating itself.
Being from Missouri….I personally wish our State would refuse any and all, Â Federal money. Â Those who wish to live on the tit of the Feds can move to a friendlier state.
Missouri did fine all the years before we had a “Mom” in the Feds.
Most of the 99er’s ( unemployed for over a year) are not really unemployed at all.  They take the benefit, and then work under the table for cash.  It is adding to the problem, not fixing it.
If you don’t like what Missouri is doing ….then don’t come here! Â That’s what makes America great.
While I don’t live in Missouri, I DO live in the US. I agree with lostinmissouri’s statement about how many people are getting benefits and working under the table for cash. I Know people where I am living who could have jobs but belive the jobs available “are beneath them” usually because the pay and benefits are not what they used to make. Many of these moochers would rather collect unemployment than work hard and tighten their financial belts -they tell me they make more on unemployment than if they took “that” job. It is easier to complain about how bad the job market is and do nothing when there is a steady flow of money coming. I firmly believe those who can work, should and be proud of whatever job they have because they are doing their part to try to contribute to society instead of mooching from it.
There are plenty of good people unemployed but there are also plenty of scammers. Housewives who have no intention of returning to work (& their husbands make plenty), people working for cash as “lostinmissouri” pointed out and folks who refuse to take a job they feel is beneath them.
At some point it must end. If they are truly needy then they can apply for welfare & food stamps and receive aid that way. If they are not, then they will be weeded out of the system and the taxpayers footing the bill will be better off.
I am for across the board govt cuts of 50% or more. It’s the only way we will survive. It will be painful. Many programs & things we all enjoy will be cut or go to a high priced user-pay system (parks, etc.)
I feel for the unemployed but 99+ weeks is a very long time. There are jobs, just not ones that some folks want. And, if you can’t find a job in your community, you might have to move. Think depression era. Husbands left families in search of work.Â
These are the times we live in.
Learn how the game is played or don’t play on the roller coaster.
Don’t be Dim about this Mona. The Dims have been in charge for many years. Nothing has changed just the speed.
I was wondering if some durango kidd logic from this post
https://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/detroit-and-the-death-throes-of-socialism_03252011/comment-page-2#comment-97032
would apply to the thousands of people in Missouri on unemployment, I just don’t think his logic will flow in this situation:
But aren’t all those People on unemployment really just “individuals with a loser mentality” with an attitude of “poor me and my generationâ€?
Don’t they all just need to Believe, “the individual CAN, if he WILLS, and if he takes the initiative.”? … There are no regulations and fees and such in the way are there?
“So what if the jobs that are created are low paying and will remain so for the long term?”
Can’t all those on unemployment just, “Move to Arizona and do lawns and windows; you’ll make a fortune!”?
Shouldn’t all those on unemployment simply ignore the cost of loans and the ability to pay back the loans and bow to the Dark Lords of Student Loan Debt and, “Borrow inflating dollars, go to school, get an education, get a degree and take control of your financial future: such as it is.”?
After all, according to DK, “Inflation is nothing” and what could 30,000 new window washers and landscapers possibly do to the incomes of such in an area?
Comments…..While I agree that some slackers milk unemployment, what would you expect? Who in their right mind would take a job for $400 gross when unemployment pays maybe $350? where I live gas is now $3.79. a $10/hr job would be a net cost which these people cannot possibly afford. It is easy to say “get a job” and $50 is not a lot when you are feeding at the government trough or making $100K/yr (or both). Most of our “elected officials” are worthless slackers who deserve any payback they get. There should be no pensions for elected officeholders. Then see how many of them want to “serve”.
Remember that it only takes 9 missed meals to start to affect the human brain….you wonder where civil unrest and crime will come from?
This just threw gasoline on the fire…and you watch, this will not be the last state…this is only start….
and obama wants us to give up our guns? the man is a joke!
Comments…..I should add that many of us will end up working for muuuch less than we have in the past, but who is in a hurry to get to that place?
@GA Mom…TOTALLY agree!! My sister in law got laid off…collected for 2 yrs…and when her benefits ran out, she then looked for a job and found one! A friend of my husbands in Rhode Island announced on her Face Book that she was being let go…with all the other teachers they got rid of…and instead of re-applying for her job, she was going to sit out and collect for 2 yrs, and go back to school for her Master’s…and all on the back of the tax payers!! She felt it was her “right” to do this!!
I know that there are some people who are seriously looking for work, my sister in Florida just started a new job today, with a major medical insurance company…after being unemployed for almost 3 months…she sent her resume out to over 100 companies, did phone and in person interviews by the dozens…but she would NOT give up…and today she was rewarded!
I’m not saying that this will happen for everyone…but I think of all the people on unemployment and food stamps, you can probably bet at least half aren’t even trying…btw, the sister that I mentioned…she applied for food stamps…first time in her life she EVER applied for gov’t assistance…and she was approved…they sent her a card with a limit of $25.00…for the MONTH!!!! I suppose they figured she could buy a case of ramon soup, a jar of peanut butter and some crackers to last her for the month!! What a joke!!!
Lost in Missouri, I don’t think many of the people would like to go to Missouri anyway…I think that you are really LOST, not just in Missouri, but lost in reality. Do not judge all based on the acts of a few. This is assuming, and assuming is wrong, get the facts. Ha by the way, I’m not one of your Missourian neighbors neithers, what is going on there is not affecting me, so I’m not defending anything, just thought your comment pretty much non-sense.
It’s Amerikans against Amerikans, no wonder why your country is sinking. I’m from India and it’s sad to see this. I’m glad I’ve been back in N Dheli, we go through a lot but we always help each other. I hope I never see NY again, I’m happy to be back home! It’s a pity, what happened to this beloved nation.
When their states’ citizen’s jobs left to go overseas,I don’t recall the Missouri REPOCRATS refusing to allow any “foreign” imports to come into Mo.!O well,they’re just “good ‘ol boys,like in ARK where a few UBER-Rich have the power and money to “Rule” over their state’s people.And just where DOES one get a job when the nearest is about 200 miles away?The kind of people like “lostinmissouri” are the prime example of the “Sunday Christian”I.E.: “Praise us with loud song the lord” on Sunday at their church.HOWEVER,he very NEXT day,they again mistreat,abuse and look down upon their downtrodden fellow men on the other six days of the week.Wonder how they’ll be able to justify their actions to J.C. on Judgment Day?Having said that,Don’t get me wrong,I’m NOT in favor of a overspending,warmongering,corporate money giving Federal Government any more than any others here.But to “make a point” and increase the suffering of the families already against the wall is just pure SIN.To GA Mom:Let’s see how well YOU live on “good ‘ol Mo. welfare” sometime.It might be good fur Ya’ll.You can take what you make now and give it to the needy while you luxuriate on all the food stamps and big welfare money checks,U BETCHA.I don’t recall any of the Mo. officials returning their state government pay “to send a message”.Guess they can’t be as brave and “pull themselves up by their bootstraps”as they expect of those less fortunate than themselves.Where were they when Georgie “AWOL” Bush gave Hundreds of BILLIONS to Wall Street?Why didn’t they revoke the license to do business for ALL of the WALL STREET Banks in their State when that happened?Or even when Obama did basically the same thing?When things REALLY SHTF what reason will they have to expect mercy or aid for themselves or their rich families?
Just a few wandering thoughts.
GFG
I didn’t know it was a right to go into debt, have a J-O-B, & to be stupid then collect unemployment. Week one on unemployment should be a wake up with cold water. Down size and/or move to a job or move in with Mona. Get real Mona, this is not WRONG, this is real.Â
We must get the Taxpayer out of the free-money give-away business. That includes ending the cutting of checks to people, corporations, subsidies, foreign aid, foreign wars, and businesses.
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Get our government back to 1783 levels. Run the whole show on less than a few million $$.  Since no more money will be given away to entities that didn’t earn it, we can Shit-Kan 19 million government employees.
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Why do the unworking people think they deserve free everything from me.
Â
I am sick and tired of sending in over $35k every fucking year (with the threat of imprisonment if I don’t) to feed your … children.
Get a life Grayfoxgreen. Country people survive just fine.
If any state wants to b*tch about their Federal Overseer, they can refuse any and all .gov money outside highway systems, national parks, or other national resources. The states wanting to shout “10th Amendment!” should be on a crash program to work around or eliminate programs based on federal funding.
Why couldn’t “unemployment insurance” be a private affair? Why is this something FedGov has to administer in the first place? Why could I not elect to have X percent pretax income withheld so that I can draw on it if needed, specifically for unemployment or family hardship? Better yet, who don’t I save some of each paycheck for a rainy day, then the money is under my control and not in a to-be-raided fund?
Careers and industries have quickly vanished while others have risen and flourished. There is no reason for me to expect my industry will be around 10, 20, or 30 years from now. Too bad I didn’t have a world-savvy mentor to key me into these ideas when my income potential was just being established. Maybe I should plan accordingly for the day when my area of expertise is no longer needed. Maybe I should develop a hobby that others might want to pay me to exercise.
All the hand wringing about unemployment has an absurd quality about it. It’s like the Titanic is sinking, people end up in the water, and they shout “Oh, sh*t, I can’t swim! My life preserver deflated after 99 minutes!” Then observers comment on the quality of the life preservers, not on the fact of people getting on a ship that goes through THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN and can’t swim. “But the Big Ship should have protected us!” Well, that’s your opinion, but when you’re trying to dog paddle, it’s kinda up to you whether you make it or not.
In the end, when your life is immediately at stake, what is more important? Having the opinion “something else” should take care of you? Or being able to swim?
Â
Mona, you probably think that Fed money is free. Don’t you. No string attached……
Missouri’s actions are similiar in intent to those coming out of Washington DC. Make cuts to social programs for the most needy. Cut the bloated bureauocracies down or out of existance!! No way!!. What everyone from the Federal, State, and Local level whether in or out of government must admit to themselves is : We are broke!! Those ‘NAFTA’ and ‘NAU’ plans must end too. American’s must seek out honest leaders who will make these tough decisions, rally to them and elect them. Your ‘informed’ vote must prevent the purchase of political office. To allow the sale of political office to the highest bidder is dangerous to us all. What do you think when you hear that the current POTUS will spend up to two Billion $$$ to get reelected??Â
 “CORRUPTION’. That is how I see it.Â
SteelerDude, have missed many meals, snuck up on anything green, or killed to eat. Three survival military schools. Each one better than the last & no idle minds. I agree. If it’s brown it down! If it has scales, I don’t have to weigh it, if it’s green it aint Charlie Sheen.
After reading all your comments, what I have to say is just a reminder to those who it applies: “Do not judge others so you will not be judged”. Most of the comments sound to be from “perfect” people with “perfect” lives. But remember, life is indeed like “a box of chocolate”, you never know what you are going to get…”. Now you have it all, the next moment you simply lose it all. And it happens in the best families, and in lives of the most “perfect”, “organized”, “responsible” and “intelligent” people. Please be compassionate, instead of feeling and expressing so much anger and superiority. After all, none of us know what we are going to get…
Comments…..i do not have any sympathy for those who have been recieving benefits for the past year or two and fixing to lose them…what have they been doing-eating at fast food joints and paying the cable bill? i see alot of those still getting benefits while they are laid off or unemployed and their kids still have cars to drive toschool in and cell phones etc….now there are those folks who have prepared for this sorta thing and have made the necessary sacrifices and they will survive this…but there are many more out there who are just whining their entitled butts off and i am really sick of it.
Sounds great, cut things at the bottom first instead of at the top where it would really make a difference…like the DOD. And while yes Mr lost in missouri, some do take advantage of the unemployment system, but in times like this, like none of us have ever seen in our lifetimes I’d be willing to bet those numbers are lower and those who truly need it and aren’t taking advantage of it are higher. Terry is right too, who can take a job making minimum wage and leave home for 40 hours a week??? It would be a big deficit loss per week when things are already on the line. But truth be known, if I could find a cash paying job, I would in a heart beat….can’t even find those around where I am, Lord knows I have looked
Clark; LMAO! 🙂 I was talking about … YOU! You are the cry baby. I have never said that individuals on unemployment were copping a loser mentality. I was speaking specifically about those who are swamped by their student loans who have a college education and do not want to consider alternatives while the economy is in recession.
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Again you have copied and pasted out of context which seems to be your MO when you can’t win an argument on the facts.
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Also, I have spent the past few days driving all around the Phoenix Metro area and I can promise you that the Recession here is OVER! That doesn’t mean that people haven’t been hurt financially with some really big guys belly up. Or that there are some vacancies.
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It does mean that the shopping centers are packed day and night. The bars, clubs, and restaurants are packed, day and night. People here are spending money everywhere! And typically, there are four neighborhood shopping centers  every mile on all the major meridians.  That doesn’t include the Power Centers or Regional malls. All of these are packed too! People are doing everything they did before, and spending money like crazy!
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So, yes, Clark, move to Arizona and I will let you clean my windows and mow my lawn!!!
DK, you should probably get a years worth of Lunesta and wake up next year as a butterfly. Get a ADT sign out front & change it to ADD. Keep driving, you will get it.
To Mona. You should buy a box of rubber gloves and put in a resume’ to TSA. You are a shoe smeller.
Missouri has many beautiful caves that are 76 degrees year round with fresh water. Some even have art on the walls with stairs and trains. I love Missouri but my old missle silo is paid for by the USAF.
Hmmm I guess that most of the commentators here are a bunch of F%%ng rednecks!
Anonymous – perhaps the most amusing comment this week so far.Â
I`m of the opinion that when government subsidizes something they get more of it. So if they subsidize unemployment they will get more of it. Are there more important things they should go after first? of course.
On a side note, just because people are spending money like drunken sailors in the Phoenix area doesn’t mean the recession is over by a long shot. The fundamentals have not changed except for the worse, these fools are just partying on the Titanic. The great majority of people never get it right.
Durango kidd…I wonder what happens to Phoenix when the water gets shut off. Certainly the recession is not over everywhere else.
  Due to my superior intellect (excuse me..I lost my mind for a moment), I will get into the predection business.
    USA will go through a soviet Union style divorce and will flounder economically like the FUSSR because many of us will lose our present jobs and simply drop out of the above-board economy because we would become even further impoverished if we paid taxes.
  My wife lived through the Soviet meltdown. She is amused by our present “crisis” because we live in an area that still has overlapping pizza delivery coverage. I have apologized in advance that she will probably live through our made-in-USA adventure as well.
Dk, I think you might have a reading and comprehension problem. I was applying your logic to the situation, that’s all. I don’t understand your fascination with me in the least bit as nothing I have ever written was or is about me, it has always been about The People and the facts, always.
DK quote, “cutting and pasting to reinforce your “poor me and my generation†perspective? 🙂 It doesn’t sell, except to individuals with a loser mentality.”
Those who you suggest it doesn’t sell well to would be those who want to avoid debt peonage and the bubble in student loans and or who recognize the world’s greatest economic boom is ending. That does not sound like a loser mentality or a generational perspective, that sounds like being realistic and responsible. It is also quite like the situation many who are on unemployment face.
DK quote, “I was speaking specifically about those who are swamped by their student loans who have a college education and do not want to consider alternatives while the economy is in recession.”
How is it you know they all won’t consider alternatives? Many People are, but few alternatives are available or regulations and the like stand in the way. You suggest the nation’s unemployed All go to Arizona? On credit no doubt.
No mention of a reduction in job destroying government regulations in states like Missouri?
DK, proclaims, “Recession here is OVER!” we have reached the bottom.
And now the official unemployment level in Missouri is going to magically drop by 34000. I guess the recession is over in Missouri too?
Or maybe, and this is so telling, “People are doing everything they did before, and spending money like crazy!” … because they are Not paying their mortgages and or have a New line of credit?
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/03/18/a-look-inside-the-feds-balance-sheet-9/tab/interactive/
The spending in Arizona looks more like an unsustainable dead cat bounce, I have not seen any facts that show otherwise.
Just this happen more in more states and by next year we will see crime at unpresidented levels .Once thier unemployment runs out they can food stamps and im sure the government will provide that because with that riots will occur in large scales .cheaper to give them a few hundred dolalrs in food stamps than to give them 1,000 bucks a month . You are forced to pay into the system by taxation .Its enslavement .Pretty soon the powers will be granted that will dictate care of your life .If your 60 and have a costly cancer, you wont be living long .Instead of spending 500,000 or a million to keep you alive for 5 more years they soon you go to hospice and get your liquid morphine drip and be dead in 3 to 5 days costing 30 grand .Thats were this is going systematically . Welcome to the New World Order !
Lord forgive me, but I truly wish every one of you with your judgmental views on those without work and receiving unemployment that you want to lump all together in one basket, I hope you all experience the roughest time in your life financially for a good 3-6 months this year. I hope you lose your job and struggle to find anything over minimum wage and we’ll see how you run your f’ing mouth then. Always easy to be big guy and run your mouth on what others ought to do and what you would do in this or that situation. But in reality you have no way of really knowing what you would do, cause no one has been in THIS situation before…not in this country. At least I have never seen it in my life time. Like I said before I can’t even find work for cash doing odd jobs, nothing over 7-8 dollars an hour. Now why would I take 7-8 dollars an hour and give up unemployment, that I paid into mind you…I would be taking a loss every week and be struggling even more, makes no sense at all! Property taxes are due now (time to get robbed some more by govt) and we don’t have it, now bank will force escrow and jack house payment up to unaffordable rate….done, sunk, finished, kaput!! So I just don’t see a way out by taking one of the only few jobs around. And to the guy who said move to where the jobs are….are you serious? Have you thought that through at all?
Here Comes the Inflation of Restaurant Prices
The San Francisco Chronicle reports:
For months consumers have grappled with higher prices at the supermarket, while restaurateurs pulled out every kitchen trick they could to absorb food inflation costs.
Well, the party is over. Experts say restaurant-goers can expect to see as much as an 8 percent increase in their checks.
And that may not be enough to keep the big chains alive, let alone the small independent eating places. Already suffering from flagging sales and low profit margins, record-high food prices – brought on by low supplies of corn, soybeans and wheat – could be the coup de gras for many restaurateurs. A number of chains, including the Texas parent company of Fuddruckers and Koo Koo Roo Chicken, filed bankruptcy last year; Sbarro Inc. is expected to file for bankruptcy protection as soon as this week. Meanwhile, El Pollo Loco Inc. and Perkins & Marie Callender’s Inc. have been struggling with debt problems.
The intensity of price inflation reports is increasing. All that money that Ben Bernanke paid out to Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and the rest of the banksters is working its way through the system. It will mean higher prices pretty much across the board. And some of it will even result in less options…
And just wait until you see this Fall’s clothing prices.
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2011/04/here-comes-inflation-of-restaurant.html
Caveman,
All caves have been closed as of some time last year. I know this cause on a survival board I frequent, the topic came up when some were looking for possible BOL and someone posted an article from last year where they shut down all caves and of course this stared a conspiracy theory that the govt knows the New Madrid seismic zone is going to go off.
Hey, by ur list I can see i don’t think im missing anything.
KooRooChicken is expensive, anyone can cook better.
Marie Callender, yep only for business, a quiet place.
Fuddruckers is good other than that sorry.
btw, you forgot chuckee cheese.
Try another list with food on it.
ol…
Clark: I never suggested that individuals should borrow so much money as to immerse themselves in “debt peonage”. I suggested that those individuals who desire a higher education and are inclined toward it; or those wanting to acquire a trade by going to technical school would be wise to borrow some money if they needed to, and leverage their skill set so they could make more money with their additional education and skills when the economy recovers. It will recover for those who have the skill sets. Adapt or die.
Â
If they have already borrowed a ton of money that they cannot afford to pay back because they cannot get a job, then I advise creating their own job. The bucket and squeegee example I gave you before, is a real life story, not my life, but a real life story nonetheless.
Â
So it is possible for those with initiative to overcome the harsh realities of the current economy with initiative and determination. Chaos creates viotility, and viotility always creates opportunities. If one cannot muster either the initiative or the will to exploit those opportunities, then I suggest that person will not have a spirit strong enough to sustain them when the Changes come. Current conditions are just a warm up for the real deal coming to a theatre near US all soon enough.
Â
Doing that while a recession is in effect and jobs are scarce is a good time to do it. It has always been a good time to do it. Today I think we can agree on a coming significant decline in the dollar’s value as serious inflation begins to develop.
Â
Paying back those student loans in inflated dollars is a financial benefit for those with fixed loans. Anyone who borrowed money on an adjustable basis is a fool. I make no apologies for them. Sometimes people do stupid things even when they are not stupid.
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In the same way, it is now a good strategy to buy a home if you are in the market for a home, can qualify, can afford a fixed payment, can find a bargin, and want to benefit from paying that mortgage off with inflated dollars. That is why inflation is nothing. Use inflation as a time to buy fixed assets, like silver that will increase in value with inflation.
Â
I didn’t say the recession was over in Missouri. I have no idea what is happening in Missouri. Phoenix, however is MY town and has been for almost forty years. I moved here to go to the University and recognized the growth potential. I anticipated the growth here and positioned myself for it. It wasn’t luck. It was planned.
Â
The recession IS over here, and I do proclaim that to you. As always some geographical areas will not experience the same growth as other regions. Barring any unforeseen events like a meltdown of the Palo Verde Nuke Reactor, it will continue to grow but at a much slower rate than before. Other areas of AZ will not be so fortunate. The departure of 300-500,000 illegals has created an adjusting job market environment that is helpful to workers.
Â
You like to believe that you can think outside the box. Do it to remedy YOUR situation. Go inside yourself and meet the amoeba within for inspiration. If you cannot find the inspiration within yourself, then seek out authors of positive thinking. Start with Think And Grow Rich, or  or The Greatest Salesman In The World, or some other inspired writing. Change your mind and change your life!
As for the AZ “Dead Cat Bounce” 🙂 I heartily recommend anyone that can and wants to, to relocate here, if they are so inclined. Its a big beautiful, new city with lots of opportunity for those with initiative.
Â
RECESSION IS OVER HERE! WE HAVE REACHED THE BOTTOM!!!
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PS: Cannot play patty-cake with you for awhile. I am going out of town at first light and will be incommunicado as there is no Internet where I am going. Try to renew your mind while I am gone.
When someone thinks
“RECESSION IS OVER HERE! WE HAVE REACHED THE BOTTOM!!!”
Oh Lord, someone definitely increased your medications, that’s the only reason you could possibly think that way.
High debt
High taxes
High gas prices
High food prices
High interest rateÂ
High cost of living
High unemployment
…..
NWO U.N. Blue NAFTA DHS – COP KILLER
Bye Bye American Pie!
I shot and killed a NWO U.N. blue NAFTA DHS Cop with my .45 semi-auto black glock today… a Disabled, Homeless, Cold and Hungry Veteran… I live by the river beneath a bridge… I deserve more than this… why? why? why?
I had done my time… stood my watch upon the wall; a Guardian of Liberty… now a cop killer?  Running from the Law… why? why? why?
The false NWO IMF homo druggy prostitute barry soetoro- a.k.a illegal president Barack Obama and AIPAC israeli jew controlled U.S. congress… stopped canceled my Social Security check the other day… on april 8th, 2011… they broke america’s piggy bank… gave away the pennies to the banks and told me “sorry” none for you! You are Many! We are Few… MORE FOR US! None for You!
I am a Disabled Veteran… I once Served My Country with Honor and Pride.
I murdered killed a NWO U.N. blue NAFTA DHS Cop Today… why? why? why?
 I had robbed the local Korean corner store… while the radio on the shelf played “Bye Bye American Pie”… I’d only pocketed a milk, hot pocket and a pie… ran by the screaming korean clerk for the open sky… hopped on my ex asshole neighbor kids pink huffy bike… peddling in a crazed manic flight… hauling fast down the lane… making my one handed get away… thinking “bye bye american pie”… smiling in mirth… while with my other hand grabbing from my shirt, a half frozen Hot Pocket… then a crushed Moon Pie… shoved both gleefully in my hungry mouth… I had gotten away … then I swore… “shit!”… it all dribbling down my beard… I thought; I shoulda done like Ben Bernanke… acted like a greedy Banker and taken more, more, more…
Then down the way… my calves screaming in pain… I slowed down… a mistake… an A.P.B. an All Points Bulletin – had gone out – “All Patrols Be On The Look Out for a Crazed Bearded Hobo Bum, Riding a Stolen Hot Pink Huffy Bike Down Main Street!â€; I’m screwed now… a NWO U.N. Blue NAFTA DHS Cop car pulled up behind, tires screeching… siren blaring , lights a twirling, screaming over the horn “PULL THE HELL OVER!”
At that time… I said to myself “FUCK IT!” an thought “I’m homeless cold and hungry”… this Asshole Cop isn’t gonna do me like “Rodney King”!… “The NWO U.N. IMF Fuckers did this to me”… I skidded to a stop “swiiishhhh!”… planted my worn out combat boots upon cool concrete of the street… reached into my sweat soiled pants waist… an pulled my cold heavy .45 glock like slow dead weight… fingers numb… pointed and leveled it at the windshield of the NWO U.N. NAFTA blue patrol car… looking the Cop dead in the eye… I recognized him, he use to be nice to me, always smiling when we met on the street… Officer Friendly, now wearing NWO Camo Combat Gear, with U.N. Sky Blue Patches… once our neighborhood hero… here to “Protect and Serve”… now no more… now he is a DHS Federalized Thug… a NWO U.N. NAFTA blue Storm Trooper Whore… ordered by our illegal false president obama to “Punish and Enslave!”
And while the innocent child in me… kept asking… “why, why, why ?”… the newly found Stone Cold Cop Killer in me… didn’t bat an eye… I aimed an pulled the trigger BLAMÂ BLAM BLAM 1,2,3… I emptied the clip right through the windshield… into the NWO U.N. blue NAFTA DHS Whore’s red screaming face!!!
Empty inside… now that I had unleashed all my NWO New World Order – Bilderberg Debt Slave Hate!
There I stood astride my stolen pink huffy steed… staring dead pan at the car’s brown vinyl covered rear seat, red blood, white bone chips and grey pink brain matter splattered over it. Staring through the shattered windshield and GAPING cavernous blood red hole that had been, Officer Friendly’s Red Raging New World Order U.N. blue NAFTA DHS Cop Face.
There I stood… Humming to myself “BYE BYE AMERICAN PIE”… thinking “I’m still Hungry!
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author after note:
{ There are over 600,000 unemployed war trained experienced Homeless poor starving Veterans just like our “hero†above walking thru your yards and living in the woods of your neighborhoods!} Just think about that for a moment America… there are more Veterans joining our ranks every day from the Illegal NWO Global Domination Wars and Economic Debt Slave War here in America. JUST PAUSE THINK ABOUT THAT FOR A MINUTE! Scary???? Maybe a little.
Wake up America, there are 1 million – 1,000,000 foreign troops and american traitor troops under the United Nations blue Flag, NAFTA blue Patch and IMF Bank Control right now; at this very moment here on American, Canadian and Mexican soil. Just waiting for our Illegal President Obama to call MARTIAL LAW! Upon which time they will crash the dollar, invade america and place you all; america under their U.N. NWO IMF military control. It’s either YOU or THEM!!! U.N. AGENDA 21 is here!!!
NOW is the time to…
Talk to family and friends…
AMERICA IS A LIE owned controled by The Bank Of England!
YOU ARE NOT FREE!
ARM UP STOCK UP PREPARE
PREDITOR OR PREY THE CHOICE IS YOURS!
And remember all US POLICE and SHERIFF DEPARTMENTS , NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS ARE NOW FEDERALIZED UNDER FEMA, DHS, NAFTA -UNITED NATIONS blue CONTROL!
They are not here to protect you! They are here to DisArm you – “Punish and Enslave!”
To Force you all under their nwo one world IMF WORLD BANK government control – NWO Debt Slaves one and all!
U.N. AGENDA 21 is here!
… spread the word.
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I’ll take one, but not from you. You probably never had your own business BJ or you would understand what you don’t know. I’ll take fries with that. McDonalds is hiring. I work over 60 hrs per week at one of my jobs. I have more than one. BK is flame kissed.Â
  Funny how none of these “public servants”  “send a message” by turning down saleries and benefits from their own “jobs”. The state governments are at least as bad as the federal government.
 I think that in some ways it would have been better if the whole mess had collapseed in 2008. We would be almost three years into recovery.Â
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You say it is the Republicans against the Democrats. It is the left against the right. It is the poor against the rich. It is the employed against the unemployed. Do you remember who started the problem. Do you know who is the problem. If you bills were $1800 and you only received $1200 would you supplement that $1200 any way you could? You say you do not want your tax dollars to go for entitlements, unemployment benefits. Don’t you know none of the debt can every be paid. Not the local, not the county, not the state, not the federal debt. There is not enough revenue to pay it. Too much money has been wasted, stolen, given away.
All of this was planned years ago. Some dud says Arizona’s out of the woods. What an asinine thing to say. Arizona is tied to the United States. It can never be out of the woods. Wisconsin’s trying to balance their budget is useless. You have a federal debt that can never be satisfied. It doesn’t matter how much they cut from the spending. There is not enough revenue to pay the interest. Its said our unemployment is at 19% that is a conservative figure. Our unemployment has not hit bottom yet. Regardless of what figures you government give, to make you feel better, the unemployment rate increases each day. Its not going to get better-ever.
You are given news articles that pit people against people. That is exactly what the government wants because it keeps you off their back. It is not the Democrats, against the Republicans, left against the right. It is the people against the government. The government of the city, county, state, federal. It is the machine that tells you when to eat when to sleep. When to work, how to build your shed, that you can not have a barbecue on you deck, that you can not have a basketball pole on the street. It is the machine that programs your life and everything you do. They have put you against me, so we will fight. They are tightening the screws so people will protest, the protests will turn in to riots. With riots they can establish martial law. With martial law they can manipulate your lives completely that is the ultimate goal. You government is the one that de-stabilized the Arab countries, along with Africa. They are doing the same thing here. We are not far from martial law. Food control, gasoline control. We are not far from total control of all major highways. Your not far from you whole life being regulated. And here you are arguing about someone receiving less than enough to even live. Of course there are horror stories. But they are not even close the the stories of how many people that have stolen you money are fairing. Do you see the President cutting back on vacations, the Senators turning in their national debit cards. Do you see the bankers refusing their bonuses? It is not me against you it is the people against the government.
One would like to think that people that come to this sight would know who the enemy is and have disclosed it long ago. But all I see is the same old thing. Do as you are programed to do fight amongst yourselves. Take what information is given to you and use it exactly as you have been programed to do. It is not me against you.
Durango Kid said:
” So it is possible for those with initiative to overcome the harsh realities of the current economy with initiative and determination. Chaos creates viotility, and viotility always creates opportunities. If one cannot muster either the initiative or the will to exploit those opportunities, then I suggest that person will not have a spirit strong enough to sustain them when the Changes come. Current conditions are just a warm up for the real deal coming to a theatre near US all soon enough.”
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Really?! What opportunities (?), drug dealing, pimping, stealing, prostituting, etc,? Even all mentioned is already filling the markets, there is fierce competition I can imagine! Get real dude, and cut the “grass”, ya living in lalaland!
You must be an optimist. And you think things are going to get better, really? That minimum wage job is going to look pretty good paying for used two wheel transportation for someone else. You are missing the bus again. We are not talking about caves.
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BJ: I thought of you when people started slinging off at the unemployed. I knew you’d have a comment to make, in defense of them. I come from a similar perspective. Where I come from there is a similar belief about teen single mothers. Apparently they all get pregnant for the welfare money. (Yes, riches indeed…) Once upon a time, I was a teen single mother. Like the unemployed, the VAST majority didn’t know they were going to be single, but the guy pissed off. Telling the unemployed to get a job or move to another city, when there are no jobs or the other city is just as bad? They might as well tell a pregnant teen to fix her situation by forcing that boy to come back, or hook up with the first guy who will have her.
This is more fun than anything I’ve ever seen and I have seen a lot.
Don’t forget, on April 1st, the government started a new cycle of accepting applications by companies to hire foreign workers for jobs in America – the H-1B visa. The yearly cap is 65K + another 20K for those who graduate from US schools. Nonprofits and other institutions can recruit without it being counted against the cap, so the actual total of jobs being given away is much, much higher. These are mostly ordinary white collar workers, not Einsteins, doing jobs Americans used to do and would love to have. Tech, finance, medical, you name it. And, if you still have a white collar job, it is perfectly legal for your employer to tap you on the shoulder and force you to train your foreign replacement before he hands you your pink slip. If you don’t, you get fired, bad reference, and they deny your unemployment. So, if you racked up student loans to train for a better future, too bad for you.
Face x 28 for Ag junk. Wake me up when a silver dime is worth $5. Hey Mac, can you spare a dime? Apple for a silver nickel?
Bart, just for this reason I rather see my fellow laid-off (he/she did not want to leave his/her job but was forced into it) American get Federal unemployed extended benefits (not talking about regular benefits as it’s an insurance like any other insurance that you actually pay into) and still work under the table (for those who do it, to make ends meet as benefits are only a small fraction of their previous income). Why giving my tax monies away besides my job to someone from China or Eastern Europe, etc, who may even laugh at me and my country at the end of each day? This is the reason why we should love more one another, we are all Americans, receiving benefits or not, and are all under the very same tyrant system.
When the unemployment benefits are cut…..or cut off,we are going to have more crime in the cities.Basically anyone one on government teat will have benefits cut (wf,ssi,ssd,…etc..) and mix this with the coming HYPERINFLATION…..America is not going to be a very nice place to live !!!.We are going to have hunger, starvation, homelessness not see in our life time, nor during the last depression (1930’s)….. . Just pray to God that as many as possible make it though this human crisis,it is expected that there could be lost of up-to 80% of the population with in six months (20% in the first month)… . FEMA will be enacted at this stage….. And it is going to be basically HELL on earth for man for the next several years….
I can safely say that most of us here don’t love you Jack. Even more so in Missouri.
It amazes that so many people still believe they are somehow paying for the benefits received by others. Be it unemployment, food stamps, or whatever.
Your tax dollars go directly to interest on the private debt of the United States Government, paid directly to the creditors at the Federal Reserve.
The system has been purposely set up to cater to two classes. The very rich, who support the system to preserve their wealth, and the poor who depend on the system for survival. I believe it was Colonel House who said they were doing things that way so they would not have to worry about those people.
The middle class are the intended victims. But it is not your money they take. It is your labor and productivity. The money isn’t real.
You are not paying for the benefits of others when you pay your taxes to the IRS. You are paying the cost of your own slavery. As long as you continue participating in the private corporate system, you have nothing to complain about. You signed up for it, so live it.
As for those who get the most out of the fraud you work so hard support, they are just playing the game as it was set up for them to play.
Still, many are not playing any game. They have just been shaken from the tree and have no idea what to do. They are scared, and they want their lives back. They will never get it back. It is gone.
Cutting the benefits for those people who paid for them is wrong. But is it so wrong for those who have been victimized by a system for years to get as much from it as possible before it crumbles?
Quit whining about paying for things the government does. You don’t. If you did, they would not do those things. It is not your money they spend and waste.
It comes from a printing press, and not your printing press. If you don’t want to support the system any longer, it is up to you to quit giving it your labor through corporate employment.
If you choose to support the corporation, quit whining about what it does.
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Anonymous, no problem, I’m hated everywhere anyway. Got my guns and a good load of ammunition too, buddy…
I’m kidding Jack. I don’t love any guys. I’m just jacking your chain.
I love the people that think unions ran jobs out of the country (they didn’t help the situation by any means) but its not our high wages that make us uncompetitive on the world stage. Its the insanely high (highest in the world actually) corporate taxes. What sensible company would stay in the US to give its money away to a government that burns the stuff?
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Lower corporate taxes to below that or Ireland or similar countries and see if we don’t get a bit of a bounce in a few years…
Student lending is similar to sub-prime lending, it often leads to debt peonage, even for small amounts.
People don’t usually just jump in and say, “I want to be a debt peon” such creeps up on People.
Some People say it is, “wise to borrow some money if they needed to, and leverage their skill set so they could make more money with their additional education and skills when the economy recovers.” … but what if the economy does Not recover for a very long time?
There are many distortions to the economy that mislead People into making incorrect assumptions.
What if the skill set becomes obsolete?
What if injury or illness strikes?
What happens to those People is they often slip into debt peonage, even If they only borrowed a small amount, the lending system is designed to trap People, and if you’re not making a high enough income even a small loan can become overwhelming.
“… For community college students, the prospects were grimmer still: between 30 and 42 percent were expected to default. And the future was most discouraging for students at for-profits: between 38 and 51 percent were anticipated to default.”
http://foundingfather1776.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/dark-lords-of-student-loan-debt/
For the students who default for whatever reason, the loans they cannot pay back, big or small, places them in debt peonage.
Using leverage is like gambling, especially at a time when, “Current conditions are just a warm up for the real deal coming to a theatre near US all soon enough.”
One other thing, having to do with the idea that, “Paying back those student loans in inflated dollars is a financial benefit for those with fixed loans.”
If I’m not mistaken, student loans are Not “fixed” they fluctuate with the prime rate, which means they Can go Up and add even more to the overall debt burden. It might be awhile before that happens though, however; being able to pay back those loans is the key, and it is a Big key.
House prices still have a ways to fall, any bargain you find today will be worth less later in the same way the education you get today will generate a lower wage due to oversupply of graduates and rising prices in a stagnant economy, etc.
Inflation is Not nothing.
Inflation Is Theft:
“Inflationary policies conducted for long periods of time not only foster the growth of government but also depress economic activity. Standards of living may stagnate or even decline as growing budget deficits thwart capital accumulation and investment that are sustaining the standards. Inflation misleads businessmen in their investment decisions, which causes much waste and many bankruptcies. In fact, it is the root cause of the boom-and-bust cycle which wreaks havoc on economic activity. Indeed, inflation breeds many evils of which most Americans are unaware.”
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/sennholz6.html
You Call It Inflation, I Call It Theft:
“Inflation discourages saving. Inflation buries capital into the ground as people flee toward real estate as a protective hedge. Inflation stymies growth.
[As to the myth that]… Inflation Increases Asset Values – As the dollar falls, the price of our assets raises commensurately. Stocks, real estate, etc. surge. That sounds wonderful, but their value increases against what? Since the prices for everything else rise too all we’ve secured is a nominal gain for tax collectors to confiscate. We derive no real benefit.
[As to the myth that]… Inflation Offsets Unemployment – The Philips Curve, the illusion that increasing inflation decreases unemployment, remains a staple of macroeconomics even as few still publicly acknowledge its role. Bernanke, Geithner et al remain smitten by the Philips Curve.
To succeed, this essentially entails deceiving workers. Since the price of labor, your wage, is less elastic than many other costs, businesses can raise prices quicker than can employees increase their salary demands. As businesses raise prices to cope with inflation, the cost of labor proportionally lowers. Thus, in Keynesian theory, more workers can be hired as inflation dilutes your pay.
Remember this when you hear some self-proclaimed friend of the working man imploring that we accept inflation as a means to expand employment. They peddle pay cuts for workers in real terms versus free marketers who promote wealth generating growth. Growth affords higher living standards for all. Inflation silently erodes living standards.
… inflation reduces us to servitude…”
http://blogs.forbes.com/billflax/2011/03/03/you-call-it-inflation-i-call-it-theft/
Saw this on thehousingbubbleblog.com
Person A. says, “I advise having a 30 year fixed assumable mortgage on that house with the minimum down.”
Person B. replies, “This only benefits you if there’s wage inflation. Otherwise, you really haven’t come out ahead.
Imagine the “inflation†scenario where the $US loses reserve currency status and other countries dump the dollar. A ton of dollars come home, and prices go up as the dollar loses purchasing power in the global marketplace. I don’t see any factor here to allow for a rise in wages, though, so your costs go up but your income doesn’t. The mortgage stays the same…”
Great info Clark, Thanks!
Jack: I am being real. When the going gets tough the tough get going. The poor in spirit will accept their situation in life, lament their status; piss and moan, cry and complain, and look for every excuse to fail instead of one reason to succeed. They will look for the dark cloud instead of the silver lining. They will see crisis instead of opportunity. There is opportunity everywhere if one learns to look for it. If you look for it it will seek you out.
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I have done every dirty, filthy, lowly job there is at some point in time in life but viewed each one as an opportunity to get where I wanted to go and applied myself to the task at hand. I cannot count all of the failures in my life, they are just too numerous. But each one has been a stepping stone because I have not allowed them to keep me down when they got me down. Adapt or die.
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Making time my ally, I used the”Edison Approach” to success. It will work for anyone who truly wants more than what they have; or desire to be more than they are. More often than not I had to win the same ground more than once. Sometimes three or four times. Not much fun, but if you don’t quit, the resistance will. There is incredible personal power that comes to those who refuse to quit on their dreams until they are realized. Â It becomes a mindset and a lifestyle.
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For the lost souls here without hope and a source of inspiration within, from which they can draw new, positive energy, courage, and determination, I can only recommend fresh air, exercise, and inspirational literature: or a new group of friends as it has always been clear that misery loves company, and these birds flock together (even online) to reinforce their negativity by feeding off of one another and blaming someone else, society, the economy, or karma for their “fate”
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Since you are currently unemployed and receiving unemployment benefits ( I have no problem with that) use the time to add to your skills whatever they may be, or learn a new one. Individual growth is always rewarding and it will give one a sense of personal accomplishment. This personal accomplishment in some small thing can be the step stone to something bigger, something better. Reject your “fate” and maybe the “Adjustment Bureau” will rewrite your future. 🙂
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Or maybe you will. Good luck!
Clark: Managed to make it to a Micky D’s. So let me address your arguments. I agree inflation is theft. So use it to your advantage: buy commodities, precious metals, and other assets that will benefit from inflation. Why do you think I branched out into precious metals and energy from real estate 20 years ago? Saw it ALL coming. Like I said, inflation is nothing  …. nothing now but pure profit!!!
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My student loan was fixed. Some may be fixed, some may be adjustable today, I don’t know because its been too long since I was going to school. You don’t know because you haven’t been to school. In any event the loans don’t even begin to come due as long as you are in school and repayment can be forgiven under certain kinds of employment I believe, like teaching.
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Otherwise a student is paying back the loan with inflated dollars while developing skills worth more than minimum wage. The same will be the case with this recession; just as it always has. Now, Clark, how many recessions have you lived through to see the results on the other side? Thats what I thought. 🙂
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Then there is the psychological benefits. Does one want to work for minimum wage or be a manager?
If the skill set becomes obsolete one hasn’t been taking continuing education classes which are a requirement for all professions and skilled trades like auto mechanics and electricians. Adjust your career, or get an MBA, or law degree, or use some other skill you have to make music, write a book, etc etc. An accident lawyer can repay seven years of total school borrowing on just one bad accident case!
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If injury or illness strikes, they will do what other people do, with or without an education: declare bankruptcy. Sickness  is the number one reason for bankruptcy in America.
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I agree with your cut and pastes about inflation; thats why one needs to get ahead of the curve as I did with the right assets and more education. The average college grad makes one million dollars more over their lifetime than someone with just a high school diploma. Does it matter whether those are inflated dollars or not? The disparity will still exist between the two classes.
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Reason enough to borrow now and pay back with inflated dollars. Otherwise they will be sitting in their mothers basement cutting and pasting and encouraging others to be less than they can be, and to not take a calculated risk to achieve their dreams.
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And thats ok too as long as mom and dad can foot the bill; but eventually, mom and dad will die and they will have to fend for themselves without an education, unless they have a trust fund. the rest of US have to make our own way in this world and its much easier and more profitable with an education or trade.
NWO U.N. blue NAFTA DHS – COP KILLER
Bye Bye American Pie…
I shot and killed a NWO U.N. blue NAFTA DHS Cop with my .45 semi-auto black Glock today… a Disabled, Homeless, Cold and Hungry Veteran… I live by the river beneath a bridge… I deserve better than this… tsk, tsk, tsk…
I had done my time… stood my watch upon the wall; a Guardian of Liberty… and after a fall… now a Stone Cold Cop Killer?  Running from the Ameri’kan Fascist Traitorous Law… why? why? why?
The false NWO IMF homo druggy prostitute barry soetoro- a.k.a illegal president barack obama and AIPAC israeli jew controlled U.S. congress… stopped canceled my social security check the other day… on APRIL 8th, 2011… they broke america’s piggy bank… gave away the pennies to the banks and told me “sorry” none for you! You are Many! We are Few… MORE FOR US! None for You!
I am a Disabled Veteran… I once Served My Country with Honor and Pride.
I Murdered Killed a NWO U.N. blue NAFTA DHS Cop Today… why? why? why?
 I had robbed the local Korean corner store… while the radio on the shelf played “Bye Bye American Pie”… I’d only pocketed a milk, hot pocket and a pie… ran by the Screaming Korean Clerk for the open sky… hopped on my ex Asshole Neighbor kids pink huffy bike… peddling in a crazed manic flight… hauling fast down the lane… making my one handed get away… thinking “bye bye american pie”… smiling in mirth… while with my other hand grabbing from my shirt, a half frozen Hot Pocket… then a crushed Moon Pie… shovin’ an munchin both in a hunger frenzy… my adrenaline and sugar high now kicking me into Over-Drive… I had gotten away … then I swore… “SHIT!”… it all dribbling down my beard… I thought to myself; I shoulda done like Ben Bernanke… acted like a greedy slimy Banker whore and taken more, more, more… for you see – IT’s ALL ABOUT ME! When I’m HUNGRY!
Then down the way… my calves screaming in pain… I slowed down… a mistake… an A.P.B. an All Points Bulletin – had gone out – “All Patrols Be On The Look Out for a Crazed Bearded Hobo Bum, Riding a Stolen Hot Pink Huffy Bike Down Main Street!â€; I’m screwed now… a NWO U.N. Blue NAFTA DHS Cop car pulled up behind, tires screeching… siren blaring , lights a twirling, screaming over the horn “PULL THE FUCK OVER!”
At that time… I said to myself “Screw It!” an thought “I’m homeless cold and hungry”… this Asshole Cop isn’t gonna do me like “Rodney King”!… “The NWO U.N. IMF Greedy Banker Fuckers did this to me!”… “It is either Him or Me!†I skidded to a stop “swiiishhhh!”… planted my worn out combat boots upon the cool concrete of the street… reached into my sweat soiled pants waist… an pulled my cold heavy .45 Glock like slow dead weight… fingers numb… pointed and leveled it at the windshield of the NWO U.N. NAFTA blue Patrol Car… looking the Cop dead in the eye… I recognized him, he use to be nice to me, always smiling when we met on the street… Officer Friendly, now wearing NWO camo green Combat Gear, with U.N. sky blue Patches… once our neighborhood hero… here to “Protect and Serve”… now no more… now he is a DHS Federalized Thug… a NWO U.N. NAFTA blue Storm Trooper Whore… ordered by our illegal alien false president obama to “Punish and Enslave!”
And while the innocent curious child side of me… kept asking… “why, why, why ?”… the newly found grown up tired Stone Cold Cop Killer in me… didn’t bat an eye… I aimed an pulled the trigger BLAM BLAM BLAM 1,2,3… It was HIM or ME you MUST see… I emptied the entire clip right through the windshield… into the NWO U.N. blue NAFTA DHS Whore’s red screaming face!!!
Empty inside… now that I had unleashed all my NWO New World Order – Bilderberg Debt Slave Hate!
There I stood astride my stolen pink huffy steed… staring dead pan at the car’s brown vinyl covered rear seat, red blood, white bone chips and grey pink brain matter splattered over it. Staring through the shattered windshield and GAPING cavernous blood red hole that had been, Officer Friendly’s Red Raging New World Order U.N. blue NAFTA DHS Cop Face.
There I stood… Humming to myself “BYE BYE AMERICAN PIE”… thinking “I’m still Hungry!â€
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author after note:
-Property of TekRoanin – final draft – a living work in progress – share with all pls – I encourage all Veterans to use this story poem as a template and tell us their own story – write their own and post on the web so they may be heard – dtp.
{ There are over 600,000 unemployed war trained experienced Homeless poor starving Veterans just like our “hero†above walking thru your yards and living in the woods of your neighborhoods!} Just think about that for a moment America… there are more Veterans joining our ranks every day from the Illegal NWO Global Domination Wars and Economic Debt Slave War here in America. JUST PAUSE THINK ABOUT THAT FOR A MINUTE! Scary???? Maybe a little.
Wake up America, there are 1 million – 1,000,000 foreign troops and american traitor troops under the United Nations blue Flag, NAFTA blue Patch and IMF Bank Control right now; at this very moment here on American, Canadian and Mexican soil. Just waiting for our Illegal President Obama to call MARTIAL LAW! Upon which time they will crash the dollar, invade america and place you all; america under their U.N. NWO IMF military control. It’s either YOU or THEM!!! U.N. AGENDA 21 is here!!!
NOW is the time to…
Talk to family and friends…
AMERICA IS A LIE owned controled by the family Rothschilds – The Bank Of England!
YOU ARE NOT FREE! You are DEBT SLAVES!
ARM UP STOCK UP PREPARE
PREDITOR OR PREY THE CHOICE IS YOURS!
And remember all US POLICE and SHERIFF DEPARTMENTS , NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS ARE NOW FEDERALIZED UNDER FEMA, DHS, NAFTA -UNITED NATIONS blue CONTROL!
They are not here to protect you! They are here to DisArm you – “Punish and Enslave!”
To Force you all under their nwo one world IMF WORLD BANK government control – NWO Debt Slaves one and all!
U.N. AGENDA 21 is here!
… spread the word.
Â
Durango, you rock man!
Mr. know-it-all banker cheer-leader for the Dark Lords of Student Debt says, “If injury or illness strikes, they will do what other people do, with or without an education: declare bankruptcy.”
Student Loans & Bankruptcy
“Student loans are difficult, but not impossible, to discharge in bankruptcy. To do so, you must show that payment of the debt “will impose an undue hardship on you and your dependents.â€
Courts use different tests to evaluate whether a particular borrower has shown an undue hardship. A common test is the Brunner test which requires a showing that 1) the debtor cannot maintain, based on current income and expenses, a “minimal†standard of living for the debtor and the debtor’s dependents if forced to repay the student loans; 2) additional circumstances exist indicating that this state of affairs is likely to persist for a significant portion of the repayment period of the student loans; and 3) the debtor has made good faith efforts to repay the loans. (Brunner v. New York State Higher Educ. Servs. Corp., 831 F. 2d 395 (2d Cir. 1987). Not all courts use this test. Some courts will be more flexible, some less.
…most [courts] have held that co-signers must also prove undue hardship in order to discharge student loans in bankruptcy…
Q:Â Will interest on my student loans accrue during the course of my Chapter 13 plan?
A: Generally yes. You may be able to restructure or defer the interest that accrues during the plan, but this won’t make it go away.
http://www.studentloanborrowerassistance.org/bankruptcy/
Law school not worth it unless you go Top 14
“Thus only 11.3% have quality jobs at graduation, and perhaps a few more get such jobs after their judicial clerkships end. Probably, about 13% of law school graduates get the good jobs, another 7% or so get decent jobs but not in the super-high end range, and the other 80% get screwed.”
http://www.halfsigma.com/2008/06/law-school-not-worth-it-unless-you-go-top-14.html
Is Law School a Losing Game?
“There were fewer complaints about fudging and subsidizing when legal jobs were plentiful. But student loans have always been the financial equivalent of chronic illnesses because there is no legal way to shake them. So the glut of diplomas, the dearth of jobs and those candy-coated employment statistics have now yielded a crop of furious young lawyers who say they mortgaged their future under false pretenses. You can sample their rage, and their admonitions, on what are known as law school scam blogs, with names like Shilling Me Softly, Subprime JD and Rose Colored Glasses.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/business/09law.html?_r=1
16 Shocking Facts About the Student Loan Debt Bubble and the Great College Education Scam
“A college education can be worth it for those in very highly technical or very highly scientific fields, or for those wanting to enter one of the very few fields that is still very financially lucrative, but for nearly everyone else it is just one big money-making scam.”
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rep/great-education-scam.html
Why the Job Market Is Slanted in Favor of College Graduates
“Businessmen know, for example, that a Ph.D. in economics or an MBA from one of the best business or management schools has imparted little or no practical knowledge to their graduates. It takes five years of on-the-job experience to make them useful.”
http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north303.html
Why College Could Be a Bad Investment
“The best university in the world is called Google (GOOG). You can learn anything you want on the Internet, free of charge.”
http://www.minyanville.com/investing/articles/college-education-investment-entrepreneur-business-alternative/11/23/2009/id/25584
The SubPrime-Like Government Push to Get Everyone a College Degree…
“The wholesale creation of degree factories, as a result of government sponsored programs, has diluted the value of a college education. 1. Because many more have them and 2. The quality of of knowledge by those who have graduated has declined dramatically….
If I were a recent college graduate, I would find myself a sales job. Selling vacuum cleaners, online world books, whatever. The one thing college students are never taught, even in marketing classes is solid marketing and sales techniques. In the college environment, sales skills are looked down upon.”
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2010/07/subprime-like-government-push-to-get.html
Billionaire College Dropouts
“You will recognize the men below as some of the richest in the world. But did you also know that none of them completed college? Some of them didn’t even graduate from high school, yet they went on to amass enormous fortunes and create humanity-changing companies…”
http://www.twincommas.com/billionaire-college-dropouts
8 Alternatives to College
“So I figure I will help people out by coming up with a list…”
http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/01/8-alternatives-to-college/
Breaking Out of the Trap
“…Each is only a high school graduate. For all I know, the only thing saleable any of them knows how to do is cook shrimp and rice, but they do that very well. The family earns in excess of a quarter million dollars a year selling shrimp plates out of an old truck…
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… There isn’t a single formula for breaking out of the trap, only a general one you tailor to your own specifications.
No two escape routes are exactly alike. Stanley, my absentee pupil, found one. Two magnificent American teenagers, Tara Lipinski and Michelle Kwan, who enchanted the world with a display of physical artistry and mental discipline on ice skates in the Olympic games in Japan, found another. Neither went to school and both gained wealth and prominence for their accomplishments. For me they show again what stories might be written out of ordinary lives if our time to learn wasn’t so lavishly wasted…”
http://www.lewrockwell.com/gatto/gatto-uhae-18.html
Broke and Jobless: 85% of College Grads Moving Home
“We’d mark college education as a debt-based asset, because these days most students depend on loans to pay costly tuition fees. This, like home prices, is simply not sustainable…”
https://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/broke-and-jobless-85-of-college-grads-moving-home_10172010
OK you both win, your both really smart. Why don’t you guys argue about something that makes a difference in the times we are living in here? Debate what’s the best water filter, or best light source? Or even better yet the best was for a guy to go about getting some what off the grid and use a few solar panels to power up enough led lights to light your house when power goes out. I would think that would be a better debate or more interesting for all…..JMHO
Clark,
What would happen to Student Loans debts if the US Dollar collapses? Thanks for the info.
Clark: You have proven to everyone, but mostly to me, that you are exactly the type of person that I have identified, as looking for a reason to fail instead of a reason to succeed. If you tried half as hard to find a positive approach to life as you do to reinforce the negative with every quote you can find that limits the individual, you would be out of your mother’s basement and changing the world, one life at a time: especially yours.
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You have fallen into the trap set by the Powers That Be that want you and others like you in your generation to believe that “you can’t, don’t try, it’s a waste of time, you’ll never make it happen, your dreams are too big, your capacity too small, the cost too high, the obstacles too great. Let George do it, don’t vote, don’t get involved, it’s not your problem, you can’t make a difference, you are just one person, education is too expensive, etc, etc, etc.†Your attitude toward education, success and achievement can be summed up in one word: “sheepleâ€. Look in the mirror Clark, you have become the sheeple that you rail against.
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You have accepted, demonstrate, and articulate the philosophy of the PTB who want sheeple, not individuals who are masters of their own destiny. No one should take their cue from you about their education, or how to pay for it, if they desire it. You haven’t done it, don’t want to do it, and don’t have what takes to do it. Imagine how miserable life would be for us all if so many that went before us had the attitude that you defend so vigorously.
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Success of any kind, particularly financial success is determined by the individual not any degree or certification. The value of higher education whether it is a college degree, certified trade, or some intense self study, is that it expands the individual’s capability; even if it is from a second rate, second tier law school.
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For those looking for employment with someone else, a degree or certificate does not guarantee success with a particular company, or financial success in life; it only assures the employer that the individual they are hiring has completed a set course or system of study, and using that basis, can hire the individual with some level of confidence that they have the basic skill set necessary to conduct their function within the organization. A degree or certificate is only a starting point to measure a person’s capability.
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Yes, Google is a wonderful thing. It would have made life a lot easier for me as I was growing up as I had many, many questions but no one to ask the questions I needed answered. There were no forums, websites, or blogs to draw information from. I had to find my own answers. There are worlds of knowledge to be acquired on the Internet; and degrees and certifications for those that want them. Choose one.
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There is only one problem with Google: where are you going to find an employer that wants you to spend all day on Google, cutting and posting?
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Yes, there are a few very successful people like you mentioned without education, but have talent, that have worked very hard to develop that talent and have achieved success, fame, and financial security. There are even some billionaires with only a high school education and without college degrees or a certificate program of some kind. These are rare. Some of these have some college education but no degree.
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I can guarantee that EVERY billionaire with only a high school education, and all of the talented people you mentioned have many people and consultants who do have degrees, without which, their empires would crumble. People with more education than others, generally make more money than others. Money isn’t everything, but it is what we are talking about.
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The idea that the best legal jobs go to the best legal minds is true if these individuals go to the best schools, get good grades, and serve on their schools law review. But I think that most attorneys that I know, and know of, who did not go to the best law schools would laugh at the suggestion that law school doesn’t pay. It pays very well. Even for the ambulance chasers!
Bottom line Clark, a person gets out of any endeavor a measure of what they put into it. The glass is either half full or half empty for most folks. It’s pretty clear you believe it is more than half empty. For me the glass is bubbling over because I see opportunity everywhere I look.
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Maybe it’s just the sunshine and blue skies; maybe it my education that makes the difference J
Cave Man,just a fairly short note:
Some of my(actually most)In-Laws are “Country People”,if by that statement you’re referring to someone who lives +100 miles from any major city.And someone who lives perhaps in a “trailer”.Not all of them,but some(the rest still Country,though).If you’re indirectly alluding to a certain Song about Country people,then no.I talk to some of them about 1-2 times a week.Things for most of THEM are “HARD TIMES”.Basic Survival,and VERY little $$$ to spare.Who WANTS that lifestyle?Especially when you have young kids.THEY don’t enjoy it to be sure.If you as a “Country Person”Live in a: “I love Missouri but my old missle silo is paid for by the USAF.”(your words,not mine).Then your NOT a average,country man(those thing are damn EXPENSIVE!).I truly hope you enjoy your little “I’m safe,screw the world” setup.Just one question though,what about all your fellow Country Folks who might need shelter and come calling?U gonna drive them off?
The times are getting darker and no one is exempt from dealing with these problems.
Best to ALL (that includes you CAVEMAN)
GFG
BJ: Do you need a water filter now? No, you need a job, or an idea, or a plan to stave off the eventual foreclosure that is coming; or you need to plan for it and decide how you will adjust and adapt to that change.
As bad as it might appear, it could be a great blessing in disguise. Every crisis carries with it a seed of opportunity. Find the seed. 🙂
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Your right DK and I am searching….but I still need a water filter…LoLÂ 🙂
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BTW on another note, today on FB my mother asked other family members, who happen to live in AR if we should come up with a family plan on what to do and where everyone plans to go if we get an earthquake like Japan got. I was so proud of her adn knew maybe my seeds are sprouting. Of course my sister in law spouted off with “we are trusting in God, He will take care of us, that’s our plan”  errrrrr!
Lisa, Good question, I don’t know the answer. Reading about the U.S. bond market many People say rates have to go up at some point, therefore any loans tied to the prime rate would go up too, a bad thing for some individuals when other prices are rising.
The bankers will find a way to rip you off, isn’t that what bankers usually do? For instance, if you don’t specify that your student loan payment be directed towards the principle it will all go towards the interest, further delaying the pay off date and earning more profits for the bank.
I noticed students protesting in Argentina during their corralito, perhaps they were affected, but I couldn’t find anything to back that up. Â
Here are some more clues of what might happen:
“The greater the leverage, the greater the inherent instability and thus the greater the risk.” – Charles Hugh Smith
Many People say, debt is a liability, not an asset.
Similarly, a liability is a vulnerability.
“disasters occur when hazards meet vulnerability.†– Wikipedia
Thoughts On Urban Survival:
“…The teacher continued “You see, we have a middle class that suddenly turns to poor, creating a society of basically poor people, there is no more middle class to cushion tensions any more. Middle class suddenly discovers that they are overqualified for the jobs they can find and have to settle for anything they can obtain, therefore unemployment sky rockets: too much to offer, too little demand. You see they prepare, study for a job they are not going to get. You kids, you are studying Architecture because you simply wish to do so. Only 3 or 4 percent of you will actually find a job related to architecture.â€
We all sat there, letting it all sink in. After a few months, it all proved to be true. Even the amount of students that dropped out of college increased to at least 50%. They either [saw] no point in studying something that would not make much of a difference in their future salaries, had no money to keep themselves in college, or simply had to drop college to work and support their families…
I have one question, though. When the economy collapsed and as it seems that the banks always get out on top. What happend to people owing money on their properties ?? Or owing money at all ??
Good point.
Banks and multinational companies always end up on top. They are masters at surviving where others, small or medium size business fail.
A lot of people lost their houses to the bank. Bank Boston, City Bank, HSBC, all the well known names made one big profit out of the misery of others.
The idea of all large corporate monsters dieing once the SHTF is only wishful thinking, unfortunately.
The same banks that stole people’s deposits in dollars, returning pesos worth 1/3 of what a dollar is worth, still made you pay your debts to the bank. Many committed suicide or just died of heart attacks, some even died protesting in front of the same bank that stole their money.
The same didn’t apply to personal loans, money pushers only made a marginal profit or lost money all together. The law benefits the banks and corporations, not the small investor.
…Imagine for one moment what your life would be like if today you go to your local 7-11 and everything has gone up 200%. How would you survive with your pay check?”
http://members.cox.net/theprof/UrbanSurvival/Thoughts%20On%20Urban%20Survival.htm
Some other things I came across:
US shopping center vacancy rates rose in 2nd qtr
* U.S. strip mall vacancy hits 10.9 pct
* U.S. mall vacancy reaches 10-year high
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/07/07/usretailproperty-idUSN0610302020100707
Finding Your Acre of Diamonds
“…His basic point needs to be learned by entrepreneurs in every generation. Most businesses are local. Most jobs are created by local businesses. Most American millionaires made their money by starting a business and building it. The huge industries get the public’s attention, but they are not the driving force of economic growth. Successful small businesses are — after the majority of start-ups have failed.
That’s why I keep coming back to Conwell’s theme: the entrepreneur should keep his attention focused on what his neighbors are buying or unable to buy. He should search for niches in his town that are not being filled by high-quality sellers. Buyers want to be served, but they are having trouble getting decent service locally. The best and the brightest of our children have been sent to college by parents who do not understand that a standard B.A. degree in the liberal arts is not nearly so lucrative as a certificate in plumbing or heating/air conditioning.
It’s not that small businessmen can’t use a college degree. It’s that the typical college degree program creates a mind-set that is bureaucratic: read this book, write this paper, pass this exam, and you will be given a certificate to the good life. These days, with one-third of all American high school graduates starting college (50% never finish), the college degree is barely a hunting license…”
http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north223.html
BJ: There are designs on the net to make your own filter. Pack the ingredients into a 4″ wide pvc pipe, cap the ends and make your own.
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Make sure the sand and gravel are clean. I would fry or bake the sand (outside); wash the gravel well, and add the charcoal at the bottom. I would separate all the elements with fine screen and pack the top with cotton balls or t-shirt material. Maybe 100 mesh between the gravel and the charcoal.
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Cap the ends. Drill tiny holes into the end with the charcoal. Drain, put the water into a plastic soda bottle. Sit in the sun, or use a little bleach
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Haven’t done this yet, just thinking out loud for you. Bet you could make a good one for $20. Anyone with additional ideas about this?
Clark: Debt is a liability. That is basic accounting. Only the gangster banksters count debt (loans) as an asset on their balance sheet. Your debt is their asset.
thanks DK….actually some one else was telling me something similiar to this last week about sand, rocks and charcoal…I’ll have to do some searching on the net…YouTube maybe 🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwQ16xz9hUA&feature=player_embedded
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BJ: I didn’t like that particular link because I don’t think its a good filter except in the rarest of emergencies. In an emergency you are not likely to have the charcoal. And in an emergency would one want to destroy the plastic bottle? Bad idea all the way around.
A portable filter can be sized to your liking with the PVC pipe. I would create it with sterile components and a couple of layers of charcoal, then sit the water in the sun. Check http://www.shtwater.blogspot.com for some additional water info.
Jeffrey Tucker and Mark Twain Agree: Work for Free
“This is pretty damn cool. In July, 2010, Jeffrey Tucker of the Mises Institute wrote a column advising young people to work for free. The column made a lot of sense and it stuck in my mind.”
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2011/04/jeffrey-tucker-and-mark-twain-agree.html
The Easiest Way to Succeed as an Entrepreneur
“The MOST IMPORTANT RULE: Have a customer before you start your business. This is a corollary of the phrase, “ideas are a dime a dozenâ€.”
http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/04/the-easiest-way-to-succeed-as-an-entrepreneur/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PAC6g9EvWk&feature=player_embedded
This is one I really like
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PAC6g9EvWk&feature=player_embedded
I guess I should reply somewhat to Mr. Know-it-all banker, cheerleader for the Dark Lords of Student Loan Debt, the one who proclaims the recovery is here, that we’ve reached the bottom, that inflation is nothing and violence is the Only way.
I’m accused of looking for a reason to fail instead of a reason to succeed. Quite the opposite is true, I attempted to share information to help identify danger, risk and vulnerability for anyone who might come along and read this in an attempt to avoid diving headfirst into a tiny bucket full of hazard held out by those who proclaim to know-it-all, while I offered alternatives, especially alternatives avoiding unproductive activities such as wasting time honking your car horn in an attempt to effect meaningful change.
There’s nothing negative about warning about dangers, risk and vulnerability in the face of almost certain hazards, hazards the previous generation did not have to face due to the crutch of easy Fed money printing. Honking your car horn does not warn anyone about this, communicating with others does.
The sock-puppet ignores his own advise when he says, “There is only one problem with Google: where are you going to find an employer that wants you to spend all day on Google…”
Don’t you even read what you write?
“Success of any kind, particularly financial success is determined by the individual not any degree or certification. The value of higher education whether it is a college degree, certified trade, or some intense self study, is that it expands the individual’s capability…”
The above is also contrary to this other lame proclamation by Mr. Know-it-all: “A degree or certificate is only a starting point to measure a person’s capability.”
Again, don’t you even read what you write?
“Success of any kind, particularly financial success is determined by the individual not any degree or certification…” A Person does not need to rely on an employer to put skills and knowledge to work.
And then Mr. Know-it-all goes on and proclaims, “Yes, there are a few very successful people like you mentioned without education, but have talent, that have worked very hard to develop that talent and have achieved success, fame, and financial security…”
The Secret of Great Men: Deliberate Practice
“What creates great men? What made Ted Williams the greatest hitter in the history of baseball? Why made Shakespeare one of history’s greatest writers? How did Carnegie become one of history’s greatest businessmen?
The typical answer that most people give is that greatness is born. Nature blesses a few great men with some sort of innate gift that allows them to excel at what they do – Shakespeare entered the world with a peerless writing talent, and Williams was born to swing a bat. Under this view, you’re either born with talent and destined for greatness or born without talent and destined for a life of mediocrity.
There’s one small problem with this view of greatness: there isn’t much science to back it up.”
Read the rest
http://www.lewrockwell.com/spl3/deliberate-practice.html
The glass is either half full or half empty for most folks and it all depends on if it’s being filled up or drained,… or if a two ton heavy thing is swinging towards it.
The cheerleaders of the Dark Lords of Student Debt would have everyone ignore the dangers and dismiss facts, such as these:
“… For community college students, the prospects were grimmer still: between 30 and 42 percent were expected to default. And the future was most discouraging for students at for-profits: between 38 and 51 percent were anticipated to default.â€
You might think you see opportunity everywhere you look, however; a lot of it might be nothing more than malinvestments brought about by easy Fed money printing sure to evaporate when the printing stops. Some People might want to avoid being involved with such malinvestments. For those that try to learn about and discuss the risks, the Keynesians and others of their ilk will brand a Person as negative. Psft… go jump in a lake, and take all your smears and unsupported assumptions with you.
And for the last freaking time, it’s not cut and paste, it’s Copy and paste, ya spiteful know-it-all banker, cheerleader for the Dark Lords of Student Loan Debt.
Clark,
I appreciate your answer. By the way, your writing, research and ideas are excellent! Thanks!
Clark: As usual, you have miss applied my remarks to justify your own errors. I said the recession is over in PHOENIX. I said we have reached the bottom in PHOENIX. And we have.
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If you knew anything yourself about the economy, recession, and recovery, you would know and understand that some areas will be hit harder than others, and some areas will recover faster than others. Phoenix is in recovery mode. Some areas may never recover.
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With respect to my comments about Google, no matter how much one might learn on the internet in a program of self study (and I encourage that), if you want someone else to give you a job and pay you, you still have to have a degree or certificate evidencing your capability as a starting point to assure the employer that you can meet your function within their organization.
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If you can make your own job with the info that you can get from a program of self study from Google, good for you! How much does lew rockwall pay you to promote his website? 🙂
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It doesn’t help your argument to cut and paste the quotes of someone else when all too often you take them out of context or misapply them. You do yourself and your sources a disservice. Are we to debate a third party unaware of our conversation?
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As far as your “Great Men” rant, how did that get into the convesation? But since you mentioned them, understand that these talented people had business managers, accountants, publicists and others to keep their well oiled money machine and talent on track. These people are degreed and certified in their specialty.
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Now, whether you are copying and pasting, or cutting and pasting, it makes no difference to me; you are still sitting in your mother’s basement bemoaning your fate, spreading your philosophy of limitation to anyone who will be miserable with you. AS bad as it is now, imagine how pathetic the world would be like if people followed your advice!
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No retort about the lawyers that go to a second tier school? 🙂
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Move to Phoenix Clark, bring a bucket and squeegee and you can do my windows and lawn. In fact Clark, just come to Phoenix and I will spot you the bucket and squeegee. You’ll make a fortune … if you are willing to work!
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As for the “malinvestments”, understand that everything I do, I do alone with my own funds, and rise and fall on my own merits. The only stock I own is in my own company.
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The only exception to that is the oil and gas jv deal I am pursuing now. 100,000 acres with wells every 40 to 80 acres at 2.5 to 3 million a pop is more than I can handle personally …… unless all of my assets were in crisp new $10 bills.
But then I would have to give up all of the platinum, palladium, iridium, rhodium, silver, gold, and copper. Not ready to do that yet. these metals still have legs!
Via thehousingbubbleblog.com
Comment by lfc
2011-04-11 08:10:39
Check this out. Median home price predicted to be at $95k come May. I thought everyone wanted to live in Phoenix. Just for some perspective, high median price in Phoenix was $265k achieved in the third quarter of 2005. Look out Deeetroit…….
http://www.armls.com/Libraries/STAT_and_PPI_2011/PPI-MAR-2011.sflb.ashx
Equity Valuations Forming Second Biggest Bubble in US History:
Both the cause and the potential ramifications of this development are astounding…
According to Yale University’s Dr. Robert Shiller, the market is now 41% overvalued according to this valuation metric. The only time the markets have been more overvalued was a few brief months in 1929 and the tech bubble…
Another question. Could the growth in earnings have been artificially manufactured?
To quote Elizabeth Barrett Browning: “Let me count the ways.â€
1. The change in accounting rules for the financial sector by FASB has generated massive “false†account profits beginning in 2009.
2. The extended (and then further extended) unemployment benefits have kept an artificially higher demand for consumer consumption. As a result, the US government has artificially subsidized corporate profits.
3. The billions saved through “free loading†by homeowners who have defaulted on their mortgages yet maintained their residence, thus living without a mortgage payment.
4. The artificially suppressed interest rates.
So, not only do we have a valuation bubble, but the earnings on which the projections are based are non-sustaining, and non-market driven…
http://financialsense.com/contributors/jason-kaspar/equity-valuations-forming-second-biggest-bubble-in-us-history
Trending Up, not quite an indication of recovery, contrary to observations of locals. Phoenix is included in the top 80 U.S. markets F.Y.I.
Malls Face Surge in Vacancies
“Mall vacancies hit their highest level in at least 11 years in the first quarter, new figures from real-estate research company Reis Inc. showed. In the top 80 U.S. markets, the average vacancy rate was 9.1%, up from 8.7%.
The outlook is especially bad for strip malls and other neighborhood shopping centers. Their vacancy rate is expected to top 11.1% later this year, up from 10.9%, Reis predicts. That would be the highest level since 1990…”
http://financialsense.com/contributors/jason-kaspar/equity-valuations-forming-second-biggest-bubble-in-us-history
link to Mall vacancies story:
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704101604576246972728969548.html
You and your “out of context” B.S. I showed how you were wrong about that the first time you falsely said that and nothing has been shown to be out of context since. It’s your reading and comprehension problem you need to work on.
“No retort about the lawyers that go to a second tier school?”
Visit the blogs mentioned above created by the recent law school graduates, the already employed lawyers were not the subject.
And then Mr. Know-it-all goes on and proclaims, “Yes, there are a few very successful people like you mentioned without education, but have talent, that have worked very hard to develop that talent and have achieved success, fame, and financial security…â€
The Secret of Great Men: Deliberate Practice
If you read the article you might understand how it relates to your reliance on “talent” to explain away success without certification, but you never read articles you comment on.
You shift the word malinvestments onto your own situation while ignoring trends such as rising prices in food and lower disposable income creating higher levels of business failures such as in restaurants, as listed above, and the increase in mall vacancies which lower the number and wages of jobs such as window washers, a trend likely to continue and speed up once QEn is finished.
You confuse caution and a desire to avoid malinvestments with a philosophy of limitation.
The world is in a pretty bad spot right now for listening to the likes of your Keynesian advice, upside-down on many investments, in debt-up-to-their-eyeballs and looking at GDP while ignoring increases in the money supply.
“Some areas may never recover.”
“The story of the past half century is that Americans found a way to extract money from future generations and leave them with the bill. What they have been enjoying is not prosperity, but luxury.â€
~Christopher Caldwell.
Clark: I don’t disagree with your cut and paste from Financial Sense regarding a new equity bubble forming. As I said, I don’t own any stock other than in my own company, so what is your point?
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As far as the national “median housing price” that you cut and pasted , that number includes places like Detroit where no one wants to live. Anyone who knows anything about real estate knows that real estate, like politics, is local in character. Prices in more desirable places like Phoenix and its suburbs, will cost more. So, what is your point about that? That has always been the case. There are bargains here for those who can and want to buy.
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Likewise, the info you cut and pasted about strip malls from Financial Sense, is a national number. It has nothing to do with what is happening here. To try to apply national numbers to local markets only demonstrates your ignorance about real estate markets: commercial and residential.
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It doesn’t surprise me that the outlook is bad nationally for strip malls and neighborhood shopping malls. But that is not what is happening here in the Phoenix metro market area. I’m here. I know. I have both a shopping center development and commercial appraisal background. Where are you and what experience do you have about anything? Let alone tell me about real estate in my own backyard? 🙂
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No bullshit Clark. You falsely reported Dr. North’s article at lew rockwall to support your argument when the context of the story did not support it. Why would I ever follow another link from you?
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Lawyers can be employed, particularly if they work for state, county, or city government. More often than not, these professionals are self employed with their own firms and partnerships. You suggested that if lawyers did not go to the top 14% of schools that they could not make any real money to pay off their schools loans. Of course that was a stupid idea as most lawyers do not go to the top schools and most lawyers make pretty good money. Even those employed as public defenders make 80K a year here.
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Is the country supposed to guarantee new law school graduates jobs? Once they pass the bar they can work for themselves and develop their own practice. Thats what being a professional is all about.
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I wasn’t explaining away anyone’s talent. Life is all about developing and expressing your talents. The point I was making to you was that these talented people, like athletes, actors, etc who have no formal education of their own, must rely on educated professionals who are degreed and certified to actually manage their business affairs, like the Olsen Twins, for example. Are YOU have a reading comprehension problem?
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Trust me. I understand that there are difficult times in America. I know the trends and I understand that those difficult times are going to get much more difficult, particularly for those without education, experience, or certification of some kind; which is why I encourage anyone without experience, who wants an education to get it; and borrow some money if they need it, to acquire that education, and then repay those loans with inflated dollars. Financial success is going to get much more difficult for those who do not have their “papers”. All the more reason to get them.
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I am not confusing caution with limitation. I know a losing philosophy when I read it and you are the one pushing it. You can follow the trends or you can create your own path and buck the trends. Trends are for sheeple.
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Be a pathfinder.
BJ: Talked to my pool guy today about the prospect of making a home made emergency filter, and stopped into the pool supply store. Cylinder pool filters (4-5/8″) that would fit nicely into a pvc pipe vary widely in price from about $25 to $80. Wal Mart might be a little cheaper on the low end for a similar product.
The $25 model will filter sediment down to 25 microns. The great thing is that these can be reused over and over again by taking them out and washing the dirt and particulates off of it and reserting it into your HM WF.
It won’t kill any parasites or bacteria, but you can add charcoal to the bottom of the pvc pipe to take care of that; fill soda bottles, place in the sun, and add a couple teaspoons of chlorine bleach.
So $30 – $35 should do it!
It’s amazing you don’t see the point of Equity Valuations Forming Second Biggest Bubble in US History, durango kidd.
You claim Phoenix is in recovery, and quite like the equity bubble, Could the growth in earnings have been artificially manufactured?
Are the earnings on which the projections are based… non-sustaining, and non-market driven…?
Does a large portion of the illusion of prosperity in Phoenix rely on equities?
If the rest of the nation gets worse economically you don’t think Phoenix will follow?
You don’t think the info about malls includes Phoenix? I pointed out to you that Phoenix is included in the the increasing average vacancy rate of 9.1%, what facts do you have to conclude otherwise? None, as usual.
durango kidd said, “As far as the national “median housing price” that you cut and pasted , that number includes places like Detroit where no one wants to live. Anyone who knows anything about real estate knows that real estate, like politics, is local in character…”
No, if you had bothered to look, the info was strictly about Phoenix, the info was from the:
Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service, Inc.
Your monthly statistics for the Phoenix Metro area
It doesn’t get any more local than that. Detroit isn’t even mentioned except by the Person who posted the link and made the comment comparing the future of Phoenix to Detroit.
The cheerleaders for the housing bubble claimed all real estate was local in character too, and they were proven very wrong. See: thehousingbubbleblog.com
durango kidd said, “You falsely reported Dr. North’s article at lew rockwall to support your argument when the context of the story did not support it…”
I showed how you were wrong about that the last time you said that, and you’re still wrong. You simply didn’t understand then, and you don’t now.
You Still don’t get it with the “talent” thing either. I don’t think you ever will.
durango kidd said, “Trust me…”
That’s a big red flag, especially from someone who never posts facts to back up what they are saying.
The Next Big Bubble
Posted by Lew Rockwell on April 13, 2011 05:50 PM
A friend, a very big wheel indeed in finance, tells me that the higher ed bubble is about to pop, and about time, too, since federal interference in education has led only to vastly higher prices and a humongous administrative-faculty nomenklatura living high on the hog for not much effort. “I worked my way through school,” he said. “That’s impossible now, thanks to all the ‘aid’ to students. And while it’s true that outfits like the University of Phoenix have a market aspect to them, virtually all their profits come from saddling students with federal loans they can never pay back.” The future of education is in independent institutions like the Mises Institute and maybe LRC, not state and para-state universities and colleges which offer, with few exceptions, a rip-off.
UPDATE from Stephen Searer:
Here is a great article from Techcrunch describing the situation as explained by Peter Thiel, an entrepreneur who offered a few kids 100k over two years not to go to college, but instead to start businesses and innovate.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/85525.html
Lots of facts and charts in this one.
Students: You Are Exploited Debt-Serfs
“…Courtesy of the excellent dshort.com, here is a chart of inflation from 2000 to Q1 2011. In a low-inflation decade, tuition has more than doubled. This is the acme of unsustainability. Students loans are the only sector of credit which is expanding, and they now exceed $900 billion.”
http://financialsense.com/contributors/charles-hugh-smith/students-you-are-exploited-debt-serfs
Creating your own path and bucking the trends has been My Entire Point!
I could care less if you understand any of this, durango kidd, I was only writing for the benefit of others who wish to learn more. I’m Not telling anybody to do anything, it’s up to them to decide.
Clark: In the words of Ronald Reagan, “There you go again!”. 🙂
You cannot apply an aggregate number to an individual decision like a student loan. The reality is that a new college graduate commands on average, $50k a year and owes $24k at graduation. This is not “debt peonage”
What, no link from your daddy, lou rockwall? 🙂
Clark: Just noticed the previous post. The mall story was a national in scope, not local for Phoenix, you better re-read that. It doesn’t reflect what is happening here.
The national median housing price is national in scope. if you used AZ MLS to determine that the price in Arizona is higher than other places like Detroit, it only proves my point that superior locations have higher prices. If the price is too high for you in Phoenix, buy in Detroit.
I didn’t claim Phoenix was “in recovery” as you alleged. Again you have misquoted me to support your argument, which is typical of your posts. I said the “recession is over in Phoenix” and that we have “reached the bottom”.
I did not say we are in recovery. That won’t happen until car sales improve and housing construction recovers. Housing is not likely to recover as the demographics for housing are over.
I said that people were spending money like crazy and that the malls, shopping centers, bars, clubs, and restaurants are full. They are. I am here. I know. I am spending money like crazy too. I eat in these restaurants every night. They are full. Hotel parking lots are full too with meetings and conventions. Its business as usual here in Phoenix.
You said: “Its amazing that you do not see the point of Equity Valuations Forming the Second Biggest Bubble In US History Durango Kidd”.
I see the equity bubble and the point, I agreed with you, or rather I agreed with Financial Sense, which is why I am not invested in equities other than my own, as I explained in my post previous to that. That is my point. The market makes new tops and new bottoms all the time. I have watched the history of the market as it has happen for the past 35 years. And you?
How many times do you think the market has reached “the second greatest bubble” in history”, historically? If you like watching the markets, sell them short and make a fortune.
I get it about talent. You don’t. Someone has to manage and direct the business affairs of the “talented” and these people are typically degreed and licensed.
Bottom line Clark, you espouse a loosing philosophy because you are fearful, not cautious, and want an excuse to fail because you don’t have what it takes to succeed.
BJ: I was cruising Lowe’s today and saw a slim filter about 12 inches long and less than 2 inches in diameter that has a lifetime capacity of 7500 gallons, or 5 years. Like all filters it doesn’t promise to guard against parasites, but it was only 12 American dollars and looked like it could be easily adapted to a HM PVC WF with charcoal added at the bottom.
A good starting point I think.
durango kidd said, “…a new college graduate commands on average, $50k a year and owes $24k at graduation. This is not “debt peonage…”
The average family has 2.5 kids.
Average often means very little, what’s a .5 kid?
The students who have debt and no job are in debt peonage, somehow you forget about this large and growing group of People. Roughly half of the People who follow your advise to go into debt will wind up in default. How is examining options considered fearful and a loosing philosophy? Especially if someone is already unemployed such as those in Missouri. Why is it always your way or the hyway?
For students, the trend is not their friend.
“Student loan debt is on the rise, and fewer graduates are getting jobs to pay back what they borrowed…
unemployment for recent college graduates jumped from 5.8% in 2008 to 8.7% in 2009 — the highest annual rate on record…
Only 1,065 of the 1,913 public and private nonprofit colleges in the U.S. provided complete student debt data to the Project on Student Debt.
Of those schools, average student loan debt ranged from as little as $3,000 to as much as $61,500; with 72 colleges reporting average debt of more than $35,000.
Seventy-three colleges said more than 90% of the class of 2009 graduated with debt…”
http://money.cnn.com/2010/10/22/pf/college/student_loan_debt/
“…the biggest borrowers of all are law students and medical students, both of whom end up with close to a whopping $100,000 in student loans!…”
http://www.collegescholarships.org/loans/average-debt.htm
The mall story was national in scope and included the Phoenix area, what part of “included” don’t you understand?
The AZ MLS was Not used to determine that the price in Arizona is higher than other places like Detroit, but it did suggest the future of the Phoenix housing market might be like Detroit.
When a Person says, “recession is over in Phoenix” and that we have “reached the bottom” while at the same time saying inflation is nothing, then that is implying the area is in recovery.
Don’t weasel out and say, “That won’t happen until car sales improve and housing construction recovers.” Recovers (past tense) is not the same as, in recovery.
I kept thinking of durango kidd when I read this next bit:
“Let’s examine some of the telltale signs of the useful idiot…
…When confronted with a truth that threatens their established world view, useful idiots will do anything to distract or derail the exchange. Making bad jokes, resorting to childish ridicule, ignoring cold hard logic, making threats, denying you are qualified to present the facts, even though the facts speak for themselves no matter who is relaying them, etc. Rarely will they confront the truth you present on its own terms. Instead, they will try to make YOU the issue of discussion, and not your information…”
http://www.infowars.com/the-fuzzy-logic-of-useful-idiots/
Clark: It is absolutely true that law students and doctors have the largest student debt. Thats because Lawyers and Doctors make the most money by far once they get into the real world!!!
They will make many millions of dollars more over the course of their lifetimes than a typical college grad. What an asinine response!
This is the most ridiculous example that you have given so far! $100,000 in debt is PEANUTS to a doctor or lawyer. Again, you show your real world ignorance by making this argument. Its pathetic!
thanks DK….what did you think of the water filter on Crypticcricket’s video?? the second and better one of the two vids I posted. I know him from http://www.survivl\alistboards.com
thanks again for the info
BJ: Had to watch again to remember that one. Pretty good with diagram etc, but I am still questioning that one too. No activated charcoal. I know he purchased the bio sand, but I am wondering how long it works. IE What is the capacity to absorb and neutralize bacteria; and what is the cost to replace the bio sand?
I posted somewhere about a 12 dollar filter at Lowe’s with the capacity to filter 7500 gallons of water (1500 for 5 years.) That added to a hm pvc wf with activated charcoal would do the trick, I think, and remove the parasites; although I would personally treat chemically and expose to sunlight too. (We have lots of sunlight here! 🙂 )
The video example is kind of large, which is ok for a homestead, but doesn’t fit into a bugout bag very well, or used for camping. These commercial filters I mentioned are just a few dollars, will work well, and the filter can be replaced; or cleaned and used again for the removal of particulates. And they are small enough to be mo-bile when incorporated into your home made!
Looked at others while I was there, including the one that was just cotton, activated charcoal, and cotton. The water looked real clear, even a bit blue. Wonder if that is from the charcoal as water is not blue, but clear.
I’m going to make one just for the hell of it.
Do you suppose local governments will be increasing or decreasing the staff numbers and salary levels for lawyers going forward?
A $100,000 debt for a $40,000 yr salary does not seem like a good deal:
Starting Salary for Lawyers
“Lawyers are highly educated professionals who can command impressive salaries right out of law school. All law jobs are not created equal, however. An associate position at a prestigious private firm in a major city can easily pay more than $100,000 per year to start. Relatively few students get this opportunity, however, and the vast majority of lawyers are offered starting salaries below the median rate.
The median starting salary for lawyers is about $57,000, but actual salaries depend on the kind of work a lawyer performs. Median is not an average of all starting lawyers’ salaries; it is the number in the center of the distribution. There are far more jobs below the median than above. Government attorneys for the Department of Justice, Department of Labor and the Environmental Protection Agency, for example, all make less than $50,000 at entry level. The starting salary at most public defender’s offices is below $40,000…”
http://www.ehow.com/about_5192010_starting-salary-lawyers.html#ixzz1JzKP0SuT
The future doesn’t exactly look rosy for doctors (especially ones wth high debt levels) it hasn’t for quite some time now:
Bad debt triggers hospital closings around U.S.
A rise in patients not paying their bills is partly to blame for financial ills
“…More closings and mergers are on the way, industry consultants predict…
Hospitals, which employ 5 million people, are reporting that donations and investment returns are down, patient visits are flat and profitable diagnostic procedures and elective surgeries are declining as people with inadequate insurance delay care…
In November, Moody’s Investors Service changed its 12- to 18-month outlook from “stable” to “negative” for nonprofit and for-profit hospitals, citing “prospects of a protracted recession,” bad debt and the credit crunch…
…Beaumont this fall announced a $60 million restructuring program that includes 4-10 percent pay cuts for doctors…
…Rich Umbdenstock, chief executive of the American Hospital Association, said some of the hardest-hit hospitals began reducing staffing and services as early as last spring and more will follow…
Selberg has seen a slight increase in bad debt and expects more problems.
“We feel like the wave is coming, but it hasn’t hit yet, and we don’t know how big this wave is going to be,” he said.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28394340/
Is there anything to suggest a change in this ongoing trend?