Posted on 04/04/2005 10:46:18 AM PDT by ex-Texan
The average American in the year 2005 lives a fragile existence, in a struggle for survival that can be ended by missing a few paychecks. The carrot at the end of the stick which was formerly known as "the American dream" has been replaced by a whip that can best be described as the "American nightmare" * * * You no longer work to achieve a better life for yourselves and your children. You work to keep a roof over your head, and you pray that you don't lose it. You became a slave when fear replaced incentive as your motivation to work, but I still suggest that you work while you can, because if the company you work for can't send your job overseas, the U.S. government is allowing 2000 people per day to enter this country illegally, because they're willing to do your job for less.
It doesn't matter if you're a "white collar" or "blue collar" employee. If you're an American, you're too highly paid. There are billions of people who want your job, and your government is doing all they can to see that you lose it to them. You see, we're not really American citizens anymore. We are viewed by the government as "consumers" and "tax payers." Now we're just anonymous faces in the "global village," because our government has sold our nation to foreigners and international bankers, and the new bankruptcy law has doomed the American citizen to a life of debt slavery.
Government will insist that illegal immigrants are only doing jobs that Americans refuse to do, and you'll probably believe it, because if you're watching the "Mainstream Media" that endorses this nonsense, you probably still have your job.
Illegal immigrants are doing jobs that Americans always did, and every unemployed American I talk to cannot find a job anywhere. And just like the European immigrants that flooded this country before the economic depression of the 1930's, today's illegal immigrants also have no gripe with a government that has allowed them work for high wages in America, and send billions back to their homeland. Nor do they care very much about our constitution, bill of rights, or way of life. They're only here for what they can grab, and our government has welcomed them with open arms, because they're grabbing it from you.
You're already working much longer, and much harder, to achieve a much lower standard of living than the previous generation, and 25 percent of working Americans no longer even get a vacation. The Social Security retirement age has been raised to match the life expectancy of American males, so apparently, you're also expected to work until you're dead. When you do finally get a vacation, they only trip you'll be taking will be in a pine box, and that's only if you're one of the lucky ones. Most of us will only get the state-issued canvas bag that gets tossed into the pit with all the others.
If you don't mind the fact that you'll be working until you're dead, you might also want to consider the fact that you'll get nothing for your labor, because this nation's economy may be about to crash like a freight train, and when it does, everything you've worked for will vanish. After the depression gets ugly, and your family has made the adjustment from three meals per day to three meals per week, the newspapers will blame your hunger on "the economy," as if it were some magical force that uncontrollably ruined a couple hundred million lives. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Politicians and international bankers can manipulate national economies at will, much in the way the media manipulates your mind, and a decision has been made to impoverish Americans, because global government requires that everyone in the world have an equally low standard of living. Simply put, we're being robbed of all we've worked for, because our government wants us to be poor, hungry, and docile, dependant upon them for our existence, and in fear of them for our lives. The government of the United States is intentionally destroying the economy of the United States, because the politicians and the international bankers they work for have decided that the American way of life, and catering to the demands of the American constitution, is simply too expensive.
Regardless of how wealthy you think you are, you actually have no real money at all. The "federal reserve notes" that are in your wallet, and your bank account, aren't really money, but are actually only paper on a debt that can never be paid, not even by combining all the assets and labor of every American alive today. Any loan-shark with a third grade education will tell you "that paper's no good," and naturally, the foreign investors who allow us to float this debt, have come to the same conclusion.
What is commonly known as the "U.S. dollar," represents a debt that is owed by the U.S. federal government, to the federal reserve bank. The federal reserve bank happens to be the privately owned entity that lent the money that's represented by the paper in your wallet. The federal reserve act signed away everything you own, and the fruit of your labor as collateral on this debt, and as foreign investors are becoming increasingly unwilling to invest the $2 billion per day needed to cover the interest, our creditors will want to collect it.
But it's much bleaker than that.
This is the 1st insightful post on the whole thread.
DING DING DING!!! American's standard of living hasn't declined.. american's standard of spending has ballooned beyond their means... and while I am no fan of ever increasing tax rates.. they are the end of the day are not why most folks wind up owing everything to banks.
Every bigger homes, no one wanting to buy small starter homes..... need not only for 2 cars, but 2 brand new cars... having to have 6 TV's with at least one costing as much as a used car, $100+ a month digital cable, having to have the brand new camper/boat that sits in the driveway 51 weeks a year... etc etc .. buyign all this ON CREDIT and doing nothing to build wealth.
Financial immaturity had more to do with people getting in trouble than anything else! Credit is marketed harder than any other product in america today! 5 Billion offers for credit cards per year go out! We are a nation of only 300 Million people!.... That's nearly 17 offers per year for every man woman and child in the United States!!
Stop keeping up with the Jones'! The Jones' are BROKE! Live within your means today, and you will live a lifestyle like few others tommorrow!
I hate those who are just starting out now.
Why couldn't they start out then, like I did?
I hate them. I wish they'd die.
That said, The Credit Card offer I got in the mail the other day at 29% should be illegal to even offer, its nothing more than legal thievery.
At the very least it should be front page bold type instead of fine print buried on the back page. (yes, I threw it away)
There should be a reasonable limit to what APR they can legally help people spend their future at.
Yes, I believe in capitalism but also fair controls on greedy parasitic mega credit card companies to protect consumers from (yes, even) themselves.
This is absolute BS.. Fact is Cost of a house relative to household income is actually LOWER in most parts of the country today than it was 40 years ago!
Secondly, you don't BUY A HOUSE if you have no MONEY!... If you are just starting out you find a cheap apartment like your parents or grandparents did, and you live there and sock away your money until you have CASH to put down a downpayment on a house. Will you have to live a neighborhood lower than what you would probably like to? YES.. but guess what.. YOU DON'T START OUT WHERE YOUR PARENTS ARE TODAY! Every kid wants to achieve their parents standard of living at 22 years old... ignoring the fact that it took their parents 35 years of hard work to get where they are!
Last thing in the world you should be doing is getting into a house with zero equity! That has future foreclosure written all over it!
I think a lot of people on this thread are missing the point of the article, which is that there is a coming economic doom. Regardless of your financial health you are going to be hurt - unless your a Gates, Rockefeller type. Keep in mind that immigration and economic cycles are somewhat symbiotic. The economic problems this guy is talking about goes beyond borrowing for a house or credit card debt. I talks about global economic meltdown, where billionaires become millionaires and the rest out on the street.
Regional housing bubbles are ready to pop.
Believe me I know this... I do real estate, and I'm going to make lots of money buying up the houses that get foreclosed on when all these folks with zero, or paper appreciation equity suddenly disappears when those bubbles do pop.
All these foolish folks thinking "I gotta buy today".. most of them are going to wind up taking a bath by being underwater for 8 years or more when the values fall.. or are just going to end up losign the houses if they can't manage to wait out the down cycle before they are forced to sell.
If my tax rate weren't exceeding 50% I could become debt free before I'm 50! Everyone wants to blame everything but the source of the problem. Continually growing government taxation, taking bigger chunks of income (corporate and private) is driving our economic spending power into the ground.
Add to that the "keep up with the Jones'" attitude of many, and you have a recipe for disaster.
If you are paying 50% of your income in taxes, its time to hire a CPA and learn about income shelters.
"The real problem is that the same folks who squeal the loudest about people being eaten alive with credit card debt and bad decisions, are the same folks who tend to make people believe that they deserve nothing but the best and they should have it all. When I was growing up, people understood that if you lived beyond your means, you would end up in the street. Today, it's those who expect payment for goods and services that are getting kicked."
I feel it's a combination of people who used their credit to hang on to their homes and pay the bills during this last recession and then those living beyond their means being providing easy credit. I make enough to pay the bills but I have to say the cost of living has shot through the roof between energy and medical costs.
not in any major metropolitan or suburban area - either they have some other source of income or money, or are living in a rural area.
What makes you think it was any easier 30 years ago? Just a note from someone who was there, who remembers double digit mortgage rates, double digit inflation and housing price inflation that makes today's look tame. Saving for that first downpayment on a home was a real "bitch", but we did it.
But again, 30 years ago, most young people starting out didn't live off of credit cards --- most, including myself, didn't even have them. We also didn't pay $100/month for cell phones or a $100/month for cable TV or $30/month for internet service either.
The big thing today is credit cards -- and the rule of thumb is that if you have to use them to make ends meet, you are living beyond your means. Cut back.
Don't tell anyone. This will be our little secret.
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