Bye-Bye Miss American Pie

[wkmac]

Watching the American Middle Class Die Before Our Eyes

Of the 30 points made in the above piece, many of them very good, this one really jumps off the page at ya IMO!

#21 If inflation was measured the exact same way that it was measured back in 1980, the rate of inflation in the United States would be well over 10 percent.

 

[moreluck]

I liked Santorum's remark (I think it was him) last night when someone said "middle class". There's no "classes" there's middle income. Class, separates Americans.

 

[Catatonic]

You could spend days reading this article and it various off-shoot links. Seems credible.

It also discusses the abuse of the system - one lady in Ohio bragged about the fact she owned a $300,000 house and drove a Mercedes and still got food stamps.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

I liked Santorum's remark (I think it was him) last night when someone said "middle class". There's no "classes" there's middle income. Class, separates Americans.

Call it what you will be there is a clear separation of Americans based upon socioeconomics.

 

[Catatonic]

Call it what you will be there is a clear separation of Americans based upon socioeconomics.

Agreed but also based on culture.

 

[wkmac]

Hoax,
Those offshoots is why "real rate of inflation is 10%" jumped out at me. Consider this:

Taking the real rate of inflation as 10%, according to past monetary policy this would suggest an immediate tightening on the monetary supply which means interest rates must go up. When interest rates go up, the cost of borrowing does as well so obviously this immediate effect would be a cooling on the economy which is already cold based on some measures. But even moreso, with the higher interest rates, not only is the debt much worse because of debt service but so too is the deficit. If true, the ability of the gov't to further borrow to maintain current operations would come to a grinding halt just on real costs alone.

A side note is that as interest rates go up so do savings interest rates go up in money market and like investments and then many in the market especially of the baby boomer brackets begin to pull out of stocks and enter the safer fixed investments. IMO this is another reason interest rates have been kept artificially low to flush folk into stocks so others can work their magic.

This now begs the question, is the real inflation rate that bad and the current core of politicos are in league to hide the truth? If true, this in my opinion makes the actions in Washington by both sides all but criminal and the core problem with America is far deeper and far worse than we are being told. But ultimately this comes down to who one believes and how information is derived.

And the ride into the graveyard of empires continues!

 

[wkmac]

Agreed but also based on culture.

True but even in that, how much of the culture is naturally occuring and how much is caused by longterm effects of market and social interventionism (blowback) and even outright exploitation?

 

[satellitedriver]

This now begs the question, is the real inflation rate that bad and the current core of politicos are in league to hide the truth? If true, this in my opinion makes the actions in Washington by both sides all but criminal and the core problem with America is far deeper and far worse than we are being told. But ultimately this comes down to who one believes and how information is derived.
And the ride into the graveyard of empires continues!

Mac,
You are old enough to have lived through the worst recession and inflation rates, since "The Great Depression".
The Carter years. 76' thru 80'.
When he left office inflation was 13.91%.
The prime lending rate was 15.25%-(meaning a standard home loan was around 17 to 20%)-
I read the entire article and I just had to laugh.

Fear mongering BS.

I was stupid enough to get married and work two jobs in 1978 and go to night school at a community college, to learn a new skill.
1979, we moved to the country and started our new life, from scratch.
In debt to our eyeballs. Only $200.00 left in the bank and 2 weeks before my next paycheck.
Inflation/deflation never had an effect on our direction to try and improve our life.

Long winded as my post has been, I really just have this to say.
Never, have I ever been influenced, in my working life, by the politicos.
No one "pushed" me to invest in "the market".
Due diligence, saving and investing is why, at the age of 58, I am debt free.

Personally I am astounded, by the present mindset, that the reason a person does not have the "good life" is because of the politicians and the evil rich people, while never considering-(acknowledging) that the decisions they made earlier in their life placed them in their position.

Graveyard of Empires?
The day anyone is born is the day they put their foot on the spade that digs their grave.

 

[wkmac]

Mac,
You are old enough to have lived through the worst recession and inflation rates, since "The Great Depression".
The Carter years. 76' thru 80'.
When he left office inflation was 13.91%.
The prime lending rate was 15.25%-(meaning a standard home loan was around 17 to 20%)-
I read the entire article and I just had to laugh.

Fear mongering BS.

I was stupid enough to get married and work two jobs in 1978 and go to night school at a community college, to learn a new skill.
1979, we moved to the country and started our new life, from scratch.
In debt to our eyeballs. Only $200.00 left in the bank and 2 weeks before my next paycheck.
Inflation/deflation never had an effect on our direction to try and improve our life.

Long winded as my post has been, I really just have this to say.
Never, have I ever been influenced, in my working life, by the politicos.
No one "pushed" me to invest in "the market".
Due diligence, saving and investing is why, at the age of 58, I am debt free.

Personally I am astounded, by the present mindset, that the reason a person does not have the "good life" is because of the politicians and the evil rich people, while never considering-(acknowledging) that the decisions they made earlier in their life placed them in their position.

Graveyard of Empires?
The day anyone is born is the day they put their foot on the spade that digs their grave.

 

[moreluck]

Mac,
You are old enough to have lived through the worst recession and inflation rates, since "The Great Depression".
The Carter years. 76' thru 80'.
When he left office inflation was 13.91%.
The prime lending rate was 15.25%-(meaning a standard home loan was around 17 to 20%)-
I read the entire article and I just had to laugh.

Fear mongering BS.

I was stupid enough to get married and work two jobs in 1978 and go to night school at a community college, to learn a new skill.
1979, we moved to the country and started our new life, from scratch.
In debt to our eyeballs. Only $200.00 left in the bank and 2 weeks before my next paycheck.
Inflation/deflation never had an effect on our direction to try and improve our life.

Long winded as my post has been, I really just have this to say.
Never, have I ever been influenced, in my working life, by the politicos.
No one "pushed" me to invest in "the market".
Due diligence, saving and investing is why, at the age of 58, I am debt free.

Personally I am astounded, by the present mindset, that the reason a person does not have the "good life" is because of the politicians and the evil rich people, while never considering-(acknowledging) that the decisions they made earlier in their life placed them in their position.

Graveyard of Empires?
The day anyone is born is the day they put their foot on the spade that digs their grave.

You are absolutely right, Sat. As newly married folks, we had friends, also just starting out. It was hard to watch them buy the newest cars, toys, fancy TV's and every new gizmo that came on the market. All the time, we both worked at jobs, ate toasted cheese sandwiches & tomato soup a lot and saved our money because we had a goal to own a home asap.
Today, 40 some years later, I don't think any of them are even together anymore.
We are all responsible for ourselves.........own it!