Unemployed

The Extreme Frustration Of Unemployed Americans

When Barack Obama visited Buffalo recently, he was greeted by a billboard advertisement with a very pointed message about unemployment.  In just a few words it summarized the frustrations of an entire region.  The billboard along I-190 had this very simple message for Obama: “Dear Mr. President, I need a freakin job. Period. Sincerely, inafj.org.”  As word about this billboard got out, it quickly made headlines all over the United States.  Why?  Well, the truth is that millions of hard working Americans are extremely frustrated about their lack of work right now.  When you don’t have a job and you can’t provide for your family, very little else seems to matter.  In fact, according to a recent Gallup poll, unemployment is now the second most important issue to American voters.  The number one issue is the economy.

The reality is that the American people don’t want excuses.

They want jobs.

And some are getting so desperate that they are even putting up billboards to express their frustrations.

So who sponsored the billboard in Buffalo?

Well, it was actually sponsored by a group organized by Buffalo businessman Jeff Baker.  It turns out that Baker lost his own small business 15 months ago.  His business had employed 25 people, and when he was forced to close it he described it as “the most heartbreaking situation” of his entire life.

Baker’s group, INAFJ (“I Need A Freakin Job”), says that they are not about playing politics.  What they want is only one thing.

Jobs.

They want someone to put the American people back to work.  Baker recently explained it this way….

“Nothing else matters unless the American people are working.”

In some areas of the United States, the situation is beyond desperate.  Detroit is a great example of this.  Not only does the city resemble a war zone at this point, but Detroit’s mayor says that the unemployment rate in his city is somewhere around 50 percent.

So how in the world is a major city supposed to function when 40 to 50 percent of the people living there can’t get the work that they need?

The sad thing is that Detroit used to be one of the most prosperous areas in the United States.  Once upon a time, the auto industry was booming and there were lots of great jobs available for blue collar workers.

But that all seems so far away now.

For decades, the politicians in Washington D.C. have allowed (or even encouraged) the offshoring of our manufacturing jobs, and now we are a nation with a dwindling manufacturing base that is rapidly bleeding cash.

In fact, the U.S. trade deficit widened for the second consecutive month in March to its highest level since December 2008.  Every single month we buy much more from the rest of the world than they buy from us.  That means that wealth is constantly flowing out of this nation, and no end to the bleeding is in sight.

The truth is that America’s twin deficits (the trade deficit and the massive U.S. government budget deficit) are absolutely destroying the financial condition of this nation.  For years and years economists have warned that these deficits would bring about a day of reckoning at some point, and now that day is here.

We are told by the media that we have entered an economic recovery, but with tens of millions of Americans not able to get the work that they need, most people are not convinced.  In fact, a new poll shows that 76 percent of Americans believe that the U.S. economy is still in a recession.

But this is nothing compared to what is coming.

The truth is that the United States is rapidly becoming a service economy.  Service jobs pay less than manufacturing jobs do, and the rapid advance of technology in recent decades has made human labor increasingly unnecessary.

That means that the “system” does not need our labor as much as it once did.

This is leading to a situation where there is a widening gap between the “haves” and the “have nots”.  In fact, the bottom 40 percent of those living in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.

But not everyone has been hurting during this financial crisis.

Did you know that the number of millionaires in the United States rose 16 percent to 7.8 million in 2009?

Not only that, but an analysis of income-tax data by the Congressional Budget Office a few years ago found that the top 1% of households in the United States own nearly twice as much of the corporate wealth as they did just 15 years ago.

The elite are getting richer, while at the same time tens of millions of other Americans are finding it increasingly more difficult to survive.

That is why groups like INAFJ are becoming so popular.  They are tapping into the frustration of the growing number of Americans who are desperately trying to make it from month to month.  The following is a short video that INAFJ posted on YouTube about their organization….

So do have a story of economic frustration that you would like to share with the world?

Have you found yourself working harder and harder for less and less?

Does it seem like you come up short at the end of every month no matter how hard you try?

If you have a story, we would love to share it with our readers.  Please feel free to post your tale of economic frustration in the comments section below….

Paupers In The Land Our Forefathers Conquered

A long time ago, in an America now far, far away, the majority of the American people owned the land that they live on.  The term “my land” actually meant something back then.  But today that has fundamentally changed.  Now the majority of the American people owe on the land that they live on.  In fact, most of them owe big money to the giant corporate banking interests that control the mortgage industry.  So how did the American people come to be debtors and paupers in the land that our forefathers conquered?  Today when someone says that they “bought a house” what they really mean is that they have signed up for 30 years (or more) of bloated mortgage payments which they care barely afford.  As you will see below, the percentage of residential mortgage debt to total home equity (housing net worth) in the United States continues to rise at a staggering pace.  In fact, thanks to the housing crash, for the first time in American history residential mortgage debt far surpasses the total home equity owned by all Americans.  So what does that mean?  It means that the big corporate banks have more of an interest in America’s homes than we do now.

So how are we getting our land taken from us?

Well, you can thank rampant inflation and the housing bubble.

Back in 1980, the United States was pushing up towards a total of $1 billion in total residential mortgage debt.  It took us over 200 years to get to that point as a nation.

By 1990, the United States approximately doubled that amount and was sitting at about $2 trillion  in total residential mortgage debt.

By the year 2000, the United States had just about $5 trillion in total residential mortgage debt.

By 2008, the United States had over $10 trillion in total residential mortgage debt.

Do you notice a trend?

In just the past 30 years the amount of residential mortgage debt in the United States has increased tenfold.

Meanwhile, thanks to the housing crash, home equity has taken a nosedive.  As you can see from the chart below, total residential mortgage debt in the U.S. now far exceeds total home equity….

So what does this mean?  It means that the banks have more of a financial interest in America’s homes than we do.  It means that we are quickly becoming paupers and debt slaves.

As you can see from the chart below, back in 1945 total home equity as a percentage of home value was extremely high (80%).  Home equity exceeded total residential mortgage debt by about a 4 to 1 margin.  But today total residential mortgage debt exceeds home equity and the situation is rapidly becoming worse….

We were all told to buy into the system and we could live the American Dream.  We were told to get a “good job” with one of the big global corporations and we were told to get a mortgage so that we could build up equity.  Well, that has turned out great for most of us, hasn’t it?

The reality is that the system so many of us trusted is dying.  We are now at the point where the system cannot provide jobs for millions of us anymore.  If unemployment continues to soar as it has, millions more of us will find ourselves destitute and homeless on the continent our forefathers conquered….

So how did all of this happen?

Back in 1913, the U.S. Congress gave control over U.S. currency to the Federal Reserve.  Since that time, the value of the U.S. dollar has slowly been eroded.  $1.00 in 1914 (the year after the Federal Reserve was established) had about the same buying power as $21.59 in 2010.  That means that the U.S. dollar has lost over 95 percent of its purchasing power since then.

So the accumulated wealth that our parents and grandparents hand down to us is being constantly devalued.  The only way to keep up with rising prices on land and on everything else is to go out into the system to get more of the “currency” that is controlled and manipulated by the Federal Reserve and the big corporate banks.  But what most of us don’t realize is that the game is rigged to slowly transfer the wealth of the nation over to them.

The house always wins in the end.

Thanks to the greed and stupidity of the American people, we have accumulated the biggest mountain of debt in the history of the world.  It was a fun party while we were piling up all the debt, but now the bankers have us where they want us.

If only we had listened to those among our founding fathers who warned us about this trap.

For example, the words of Thomas Jefferson in a letter to John Taylor dated May 28th, 1816 ring more true today than they ever have….

And I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.

The truth is that the American people are being swindled and most of them don’t even realize it.  The wealth of America is slowly being transferred to the big banks.  All of the interest that we pay month after month after month makes them rich.

The financial system of the United States is broken.  But until the U.S. economy totally collapses most Americans will not realize it.  By then it will be far too late.

FINCA BAYANO

12 Reasons Why Millions Of Americans Are Incredibly Angry About The State Of The U.S. Economy

We have reached a very interesting turning point in American history.  More than at any other point in modern times, Americans are deeply angry about the state of the economy.  In fact, it is no stretch to say that millions of U.S. citizens are hopping mad about the economic situation.  Most of them don’t know exactly what is wrong, and even fewer of them have any idea about how to go about fixing things, but they do know one thing.  They know that they are mad.  As Americans, we were raised with the belief that our overwhelmingly powerful economic machine would always provide good jobs and prosperity for all of us as long as we worked hard.  But we have come to learn that is not true.  We have come to learn that our politicians and our leaders have squandered the great inheritance that our forefathers left for us.  We have come to learn that the financial future of our nation is beyond bleak.  We have come to learn that our government has piled up the biggest mountain of debt in the history of the world.  Now the foolish decisions of the past several decades are catching up with us.  The U.S. economy is experiencing structural failure, and the American people are angry.  They want answers.  They want someone to fix things.  They want things to go back to the way they used to be.

But that isn’t going to happen.  Once the American people truly start realizing that, the anger that will erupt will dwarf what we are seeing now.

Not that they are aren’t already incredibly steamed.  The following are 12 reasons why many Americans are absolutely furious about the state of the U.S. economy….

#1) There simply are not enough jobs for everyone.  The number of unemployed Americans per job opening has started to increase again, hitting 5.5 in February.  Even many of those who are able to get some work find themselves only able to obtain part-time employment.  Gallup’s underemployment measure hit 20.0% on March 15th.  This was up from 19.7% two weeks earlier and 19.5% at the start of the year.

#2) More Americans than ever find themselves having to rely on the U.S. government just to survive.  According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, about 39.4 million Americans, a new all-time record, received food stamps in January.  This was up 22% from a year earlier.  In fact, the number of Americans on food stamps has hit all-time records for 14 consecutive months.

#3) Foreclosures continue to set records across the United States.  RealtyTrac, the California-based authority on property trends and valuations, projects that there will be 4.5 million home foreclosures before the end of this year.  If you figure 4 people per household, that is another 18 million people that will be forced out of their homes.

#4) As unemployment and foreclosures continue to soar, “tent slums” have started popping up all over the United States.  Is this why our founding fathers fought and died?  So we could all live in “tent slums” as the big fat cats on Wall Street roll around in their bailout cash?

#5) But even with all of these economic problems, the price of food is going up.  Rising demand and reduced supply drove supermarket prices for 16 basic foods up 6.2% in the first quarter of 2010.

#6) Due to the exploding government debt, the American people are going to be confronted with some tough choices.  According to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, the United States will soon have to make difficult choices between higher taxes and reduced social spending.  Either alternative will slow down the U.S. economy.

#7) Meanwhile, corruption in the financial system is running rampant.  The CEOs of bailed-out regional banks are actually getting big raises.  The guy who helped bring down AIG is going to get off scott-free and will be able to keep the millions in profits that he made in the process.

#8) But the biggest fraud is being committed by the boys at the top of the food chain.  A whistle blower has come forward with “smoking gun” evidence of price manipulation by major financial institutions in the precious metals markets.  The scope of this fraud is in the trillions of dollars.  The American people can’t stomach much more of this type of thing.

#9) Almost all financial experts agree that the era of super cheap money is over and that interest rates are about to rise significantly.  This is going to make it much more expensive for most Americans to borrow money to buy a home, to buy a car, to buy things with their credit cards or to borrow money for education.  Those who already have adjustable loans are going to find a much larger portion of their income going to pay interest.  Needless to say, this is going to cause the U.S. economy to experience a significant slowdown.

#10) One of the biggest things that the American people are upset about is the “health care reform” bill that was just rammed down their throats.  It turns out that “health care reform” is actually going to be the biggest tax increase in American history.  Not only that, but because of taxes and mandates imposed upon health insurance companies by the legislation, health insurance premiums are also about to increase substantially.  So where will the average American family get the money to pay for these increases?

#11) In addition, the new health care law that was supposed to give all of us much better health care is actually going to force the cancellation of at least 60 doctor-owned hospitals that were scheduled to be opened according to the executive director of Physician Hospitals of America.  Why?  Well, it turns out that the new law singles out physician-owned hospitals, making new physician-owned projects ineligible to receive payments for Medicare and Medicaid patients.

#12) The reality is that Americans are increasingly becoming disenchanted with the lack of leadership in both political parties.  Approval ratings for leaders in both parties are extremely low, and anger at politicians is at an all-time high.  The Tea Party movement is just one symptom of the seething anger many Americans are feeling.  While many Americans are gathering together at large protest rallies to demonstrate against the policies of the government, others are expressing their displeasure on blogs and websites.  There has never been a moment in modern times when Americans have been so disenchanted with their political leadership.

This anger is not going to go away.  It could be soothed a bit if the U.S. economy was fully fixed and things went back to the way they used to be.  But as noted previously, that just is not going to happen.  Harder times are ahead.  Americans are going to get angrier and angrier.

But there is not much that can be done to prevent that anger.  The politicians who are in office when things really hit the fan are going to take the brunt of the anger, but it won’t be their fault.  The truth is that this economic collapse has been building for decades.  The American people are just not going to understand that the financial system cannot be fixed overnight.

Dark times are coming.  It is not going to be pretty.  There is going to be a lot of anger and a lot of hate.  But all of these economic problems could be seen well ahead of time and there have been those who have been screaming and yelling about them for decades.

But very few people wanted to listen.

Austin Coins

What Happens When You Work As Hard As You Can And It Is Not Enough?

Once upon a time, most of us who live in America were taught that no matter what happens, if you are willing to work hard enough and long enough you can pull yourself up by your bootstraps and be able to live the American Dream.  But today that is not reality for millions of Americans.  Instead, millions of Americans find themselves working night and day and still not being able to make it.  Millions of others have poured their hearts and souls into their jobs and now find themselves out of work and out of luck by no fault of their own.  So what do you do when you work as hard as you possibly can and it is just not enough?

Financial stress has become a way of life for tens of millions of people.  Whether it is the rising cost of living, predatory credit card interest rates or mortgages that have just adjusted, many Americans now find themselves absolutely stretched to the limit.  Not only that, but local, state and federal government authorities are all raising taxes and are inventing more ways than ever to drain cash out of us.  This all comes at a time when the U.S. economy is crashing hard.

So what do you do if you have worked as hard as you can and you just don’t have enough money at the end of the month?  What do you do if you are willing to give everything you have to an employer but nobody is hiring?  What do you do if your best efforts are not even enough to put food on the table and a roof over your head?

Well, perhaps we could all move to Detroit.  There are some houses in Detroit that you can actually now buy for just one dollar.  That is if you don’t mind living in an area that looks like a war zone.

Other Americans are turning to more desperate measures.  An increasing number of Americans are turning to bankruptcy.  According to the American Bankruptcy Institute, U.S. consumer bankruptcy filings surged 14% in February compared with a year earlier.  But bankruptcy just eliminates some debts – it doesn’t put food on the table.

The truth is that millions of Americans are really hurting and there are no easy answers.

Today we wanted to share with you the stories of three of our readers who are facing very difficult economic situations.  All of them have worked incredibly hard and yet all of them are finding out that all of their hard work is not quite enough in today’s economy….

Ian:

I am 23 and have been living out of my car in Los Angeles since March 2009. I work a full-time job as a night auditor for a hotel making only 10.00 an hour. I am saddled with debt from only a year or so of college at a university, credit card balances from just making means pass the past couple years when money has been very tight. I never have a balance over 500.00 in my account because the second i get my deposit (which 300-400 dollars of it the government feels compelled to take) i have to spend well more than half of it on bills and it doesn’t include any rent payments because i can’t even afford those right now. In 3-4 months i’ll have a lot of debt paid down (will still have student loan debt for a long time), and MAY be able to find a place to stay but thats if i don’t ever buy food, gas, or wash my laundry. I’ve spent the past year trying to find a simple part-time job, i don’t care if it pays 5.00 an hour, i would do it because it means i could secure myself at least a basement to rent out from someone’s house. After a year of doing this i am sick and tired of being harassed by the general public and safety officers and being pushed out of every public place i should be entitled to take a nap in during the day. It sounds real easy to just go out there and pursue something different, but until you can understand the stress of self-reliance on yourself, having no immediate family within a reasonable distance, and knowing what its like to have your only personal connections be the 3-4 people you work with–you can’t criticize me. Plus try working 11pm-7am 5 days a week for the past year and tell me how your emotional, physical, and mental capabilities are holding up! To make things worse my family is absolutely torn apart because of this economic mess and i’m stuck in the middle of my parent’s divorce with my mom trying to advocate herself as both my friend and mother and expects me to dually play these roles in her life without going crazy because she’s being a psycho but doesn’t know it because all the drugs she has taken over the past 4 years from her different doctors have messed up her ability to think clearly… another reason why i never go to the doctors.. ever.. i don’t trust them and i don’t trust anyone.

point is i’m glad i’m going through all this crap right now because when the rest of the people out there finally have to give up the money they are afraid they wont be able to set aside for their annual cruise they routinely people will cry travesty!! I kinda sorta find a weird solace in the inevitable collapse of our economy… its that i wont be so hardly affected… i know how to be poor and make ends meet during hard and trying times, and i know there are others out there like this too… and we will stand strong and mighty in spite of opposition and will prevail.. i hope lol.

Lynn:

To all you ignorant people making comments about unemployment like it is welfare, you need to find out the facts. I have worked since I was 16 and am now 48. I have pulled pallet jacks, worked as a distribution clerk, personnel clerk, Import specialist, went to college, I have paid my dues.

I didn’t ask for 3 companies I worked for to have huge Reductions In Force and eventually close their doors. I do not feel guilty receiving unemployment benefits to keep from loosing my car and home. I don’t have luxurious things. All you people making those ignorant comments about receiving money without working; When you loose your job and Walmart isn’t even hiring lets see how you are affected when you cant pay your bills on time. Get off of your soap boxes obviously if you are so well off in this economy you must be getting help from mommy and daddy or have an inheritance cause this economy is bad and getting worse. I know of people who were executives in large companies who lost everything not by any fault of their own… Wake up you Self Righteous hateful judgemental people because if you have not been affected yet just wait…

Baby Boomer:

Yes, it is difficult for the younger generation. However, I must admit that a lot of young people lack any sort of ambition or drive. I also realize that the economy is crumbling and there is less opportunity than ever before, at least in my lifetime and I am pushing 60.

I am a high school graduate (barely) and am self-taught. I worked in a factory for 20 years before they shipped all the factory jobs to the slave gulags in Asia and Mexico (thanks NAFTA). In the mid-90s I learned HTML and web technology (on my own; they didn’t teach this stuff in college back then; I hit the books) and after a long period of knocking on doors got a job with a web technology company.

I moved to a larger city where there was more opportunity and within two years more than doubled my income.

But then the bankers decided to pull the plug on the wildly exuberant (thanks to the bankers and Wall Street investors) internet boom and by 2001 my income had dropped by a third and I was working for the government (a state university), mostly because I had no choice (all my former coworkers were unemployed, replaced by Indians and Chinese programmers who worked at half or less the salary). Believe me, working for the government is hell, you are considered less than whale dung.

A few years later I transitioned my flagging internet skills and my self-taught writing and editing skills into a decent job with an online news site. I work 70 hours a week (including Saturday and Sunday) and earn what I did in 1998. Needless to say, inflation has taken the shine off it all.

I don’t mind working 70 plus hours a week, although my body is beginning to complain (I have arthritis, tendinitis, and carpal tunnel from all those countless hours before the computer).

I have no illusion of retirement. By the time I am 70 there will be no social security. I will probably work until I drop. That’s the way it is.

Things could be a lot better, but we have no political will and much of the younger generation is politically brain dead. We need to get rid of the Federal Reserve and take control of our money and get back to the Constitution. I think we are going in the opposite direction.

I tell young people to find a niche and fill it and you will be alright, for now. After the bottom falls out, though, I think we will all be screwed.

Unfortunately, it no longer matters how hard you work. We are becoming a third world country like Mexico and that includes the mentality of the populace.

That’s my two cents.

A postscript: Younger people are going to be confronted with a lot of older people living in the streets in the not too distant future. This will be difficult to deal with unless you have a heart of stone.

There is absolutely no political will to deal with the large Baby Boomer generation that will in a few short years not be able to work anymore. Most of them will not have the option of living with their children (if they have children) because their children will be unemployed or outright impoverished. In most third world countries there is a strong family sense; we don’t have that here, so expect to see granny dumpster-diving (or fighting for a position at the dumpster, if there will be a dumpster to be had).

Sorry to be a downer. We have about five years (or less) to take back the country, get the money system right, and get rid of the bankster criminals (I dream of Nuremberg trials).

Short of that, expect to be worse off than a sharecropper or serf on some duke’s estate (the new royalty consists of transnational corporations and as Mussolini said, corporatism is the essence of fascism).

Day Of Reckoning: Congress Cuts Off Federal Unemployment Benefits For Millions Of Unemployed Americans

Starting on Monday, the unemployed in the U.S. will no longer be able to apply for federal unemployment benefits or the COBRA health insurance subsidy.  This means that millions of Americans that have been unemployed for a long period of time may suddenly find themselves without an unemployment check and without any health coverage.  You see, normally state-funded unemployment benefits last for about 26 weeks.  After that, federal unemployment benefits kick in.  During this recent economic crisis, the U.S. Congress has approved up to an additional 73 weeks of unemployment benefits for unemployed Americans.  But now the U.S. Senate has not approved an extension, and so now millions of unemployed Americans that are relying on federal unemployment benefits will stop getting checks once their current federal benefits run out.  Millions more will not be able to apply for federal unemployment benefits.

So what could this mean?

It could mean that large numbers of Americans may soon be forced into bankruptcy.

It could mean that large numbers of Americans may soon lose their homes.

It could mean that large numbers of Americans may soon be devastated by medical bills they simply cannot pay.

It could mean that large numbers of Americans may soon be forced to live in the streets.

But should we expect the federal government to pay long-term unemployment benefits for all unemployed Americans indefinitely?

That gets really expensive very quickly.  Considering the fact that the U.S. national debt is growing exponentially, the U.S. government cannot really afford to be throwing around cash as if it was water.

But with millions upon millions of Americans completely broke and unable to find jobs, what else can you do?

The reality is that it is extremely likely that the U.S. Congress will find a way to come to an agreement to extend these benefits at some point in the coming days.

So total catastrophe is likely to be avoided.

At least for now.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve’s $1.25 trillion program to push down mortgage rates is scheduled to expire on March 31st.

So what is that going to mean?

It is going to mean that mortgage rates are going to start to rise.

That will mean that less people will be able to afford to buy homes and it will mean that there are going to be even more foreclosures.

That is not good news for the housing market.

Even now, sales of previously owned homes plunged in January to their lowest level since last summer.

So what is going to happen when mortgage rates start to rise?

The reality is that the U.S. housing market is simply not going to recover to previous levels.  In fact, all signs point to another major housing market disaster in the years ahead.

Home loan standards are tightening.

Mortgage rates are rising.

The big banks are hoarding cash and have reduced lending.

Another massive wave of adjustable rate mortgages is scheduled to reset between 2010 and 2012 which will force another gigantic pile of foreclosures on to the market.

So where in the world is the “housing recovery” going to come from?

There are going to be many more houses for sale and many fewer qualified buyers.

It does not take an economic genius to figure out what that is going to do to housing prices.

Hopefully the U.S. government and the financial powers that be can figure out a way to stabilize things for a while.

But there is no getting around the fact that the U.S. is headed for an economic collapse.

By borrowing gigantic piles of cash the U.S. government can put the pain off for a little while, but by doing so they make the eventual collapse much worse.

So what do you think?  Feel free to leave a comment with your opinion…

Panama Tours

 

The American Economy: The Wealthy Make The Mistakes But The Hard Working Middle Class Pays The Price

This is how the U.S. economy works much of the time – the wealthy make most of the big economic mistakes but the hard working middle class ends up paying for them. This time around is no exception. The financial crisis of the past several years was caused by Wall Street, but they got bailed out and relatively few of them lost their jobs. However, even though middle class and working class Americans were not the ones who made the mess, they are paying for it dearly. This is especially true when it comes to unemployment. While it is true that jobs are being lost on every level of American society, the reality is that unemployment is hitting Americans on the lowest end of the income scale the hardest.

Just check out the chart below.  The ten percent of Americans that have the lowest household incomes have an unemployment rate of over 30 percent, while the ten percent of Americans that have the highest household incomes have an unemployment rate just about 3 percent….

Does this seem right to you?

After all, we were promised that we needed to bail out Wall Street so that they could help “Main Street”.

But that didn’t happen, did it?

Instead, it appears that previously bailed out corporations are going back to their old ways of paying out ridiculous bonuses.

For example, the CEO of General Motors is in line to get a $9 million pay package. 

What in the world?

A company that was so flat broke that it would have likely collapsed without U.S. government intervention is handing out 9 million bucks to the CEO?

Something is very, very wrong.

And the truth is that working class Americans are getting pissed off.

For example, one Ohio man actually decided to bulldoze his own home rather than let the bank take it in foreclosure proceedings.

Now that is an incredibly destructive and vindictive act, but it just shows how angry some people are getting.

Many working class and middle class Americans feel powerless as the politicians and the wealthy recklessly destroy the U.S. economy.

Just consider the following chart.  The U.S. government has massively increased spending at a time when revenues are decreasing sharply.  Does this look like a “recovery” to you?….

The truth is that the U.S. national debt is wildly out of control.  In 2010, the U.S. government is projected to issue almost as much new debt as the rest of the governments of the world combined.

In fact, it is anticipated that the U.S. national debt will climb to an unprecedented 200 percent of GDP by 2038 without a fundamental change in course.

Is this kind of reckless financial mismanagement going to cause an economic collapse?

Of course.

And Americans are starting to wake up and realize this.

In a recent ABC News poll, 87 percent of Americans said that they are concerned about the U.S. national debt.

In a new CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey, 86 percent of Americans believe that the U.S. system of government is broken.

And it is broken.

So is it still possible to repair it?

Feel free to leave a comment with your opinion….

Will This Generation Of Young Americans Be Able To Make It In Hard Times?

Our recent article entitled “A Record Number Of Young Americans Are Unemployed – Are They Just Lazy Or Are There Simply No Jobs Available?” has generated some absolutely outstanding comments.  We have held back on publishing the best of those comments until now because we wanted to feature them all in one place.  The truth is that this economic downturn is having a disproportionate impact on young Americans.  So why is this?  Well, that is what we want to explore.  In today’s economic climate, it can be very difficult to get that first job.  In fact, in some areas of the U.S. today it is close to impossible to get a great job even if you have tons of experience.  But there are some young Americans who are making it out there and who are doing very well despite what the economy is doing.

Certainly when you talk about any very large group of people there are going to be exceptions.  There are some young adults in America today who are absolutely shining examples of what it means to be a hard working American.  But are they the exceptions or are they the rule?

Some would argue that we have raised a generation that is spoiled, lazy and who expect everything in life to just be handed to them.  Of course one could very easily say that is now true of the American people in general.

The American people have had it so good for so long that most of them have no conception of what it means to suffer.  This is especially true of our young people unfortunately.  But now hard times are coming.

Will our young people be able to make it?

Will we be able to make it?

The following are four excellent comments that were left by readers of this website.  They all make excellent points and they all touched us on an emotional level.  Especially Brian’s story.  Never give up Brian.

After reading the comments below, we encourage you to add your own comments at the end of the article.  Do you think that Americans (especially young Americans) are going to be able to make it through the tough times that are ahead, or are we in really, really big trouble?

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Annie:

I can definitely see many people having temper tantrums. I see it on a small scale now.

I managed a retail establishment last year that is seasonal. All of the employees that the owner hired that were under 40 I had to fire. The first half were lazy obsessively texting internet surfing junkies or illegal aliens I had to fire. Oh boy did they think I was a bitch, but I got the job done, on time and under budget.

The 2 best employees I had was a 40 year old white man and a 65 year old Columbia woman. The man was a class A employee. He made slightly over minimum wage but he was grateful to have a job. Worked anytime I asked him. If I were to call him, he’d be on the next bus to show up for work. Wanted to work, needed to work. Stellar employee. Anytime I get a call in regard to a reference to him, I gave him high accolades.

The Columbian woman, same thing. Showed up on time, dressed professional, spoke professionally on the phone and interact with the customers like a class act.

The Nintendo generation (boy that’s a good one) is full of lazy, obese, low IQ brain dead people. There are few good young people out there, but they are far and few between. When I go to a retail store, I purposely try to pick a register that has a baby boomer working it. If I happen to get a younger man/woman, it’s a joke. They rarely make eye contact and mumble intelligible. I leave the register and don’t even know what they said.

Just to screw with them sometimes I mumble something stupid like I’m being beamed up to Mars after I leave here to see if they’re really paying attention.

The entitlement mentality is the worst. All of these kids want a $100K job or something close. Those days are over unless you get a cushy government job. I’ve been in and out of work for the last 3 years. It’s been rough for me. I’ve worked minimum wage jobs, scavenged for cans and bottles to sell for money, held garage sales, etc…to put food on the table. Many people would think they’re too good to do what I do.

Recent College Graduate:

I recently graduated with a BBA in finance from prestigious university. I wanted to comment of this article because I can completely identify with the subject, in fact, when I saw the picture I laughed to myself and was like that’s me, kinda sad huh. I now live with parents and have no intention of looking for a job. I have been highly motivated my entire life and was well on my way to getting a job in a hedge fund or private equity firm within the oil and gas industry. However a couple months before graduation, something snapped and I became very depressed and lost almost all motivation. I think its because I really woke up the the reality that the the path that the US is on economically speaking is unsustainable. I don’t feel like there is any money to be made anymore. Of course in the short term I could be making about $75,000 a year (typical starting pay for classmates of mine), however I don’t see a point. The dollar will most likely be gone in the next two years and honestly we are on the verge of social and political chaos…I think the best use of my time presently is to prepare myself and get my family prepared for what lies ahead. So from the horses mouth so to speak, as a 22 year old college graduate, that is my opinion.

Brand:

Many recent college grads move back home for two reasons.

First, the education system has become absolutely addicted to debt. Look at the cost of tuition over the last three decades, and then look at the number of loans issued by Sallie Mae. As soon as demand went through the roof, the universities started doubling and tripling tuition rates, while offering in-house consultation on how to maximize student loans. Twenty years ago, most college students didn’t graduate $40-60,000 in the debt.

Second, it’s a tough job market. If you’ve got a tuition payment to make, and you can’t get a job, then it’s reasonable to move back in with mom and dad for a while. That’s what family is for. They have every right to expect you to pull your weight, including doing chores and getting a part-time job to help pay for food and utilities. Of course, when mom and dad get old, they have the right to live at *your* place for a while, at least until they require permanent care.

I don’t dispute that there are a lot of lazy punks out there. I also happen to think that kids go $40-60,000 into debt while majoring in dead-end subjects that offer no chance of repaying their loans. But there are also plenty of responsible young people who get stuck between a rock and a hard place, and there’s nothing wrong with taking a little family help as long as it’s appreciated and repaid in kind.

Just my two cents.

Brian:

I am 31 year old male, but everyone says I look 17-20. I had a son at 18 and never had the money to go to an expensive college to get a degree and got turned down for a federal grant/loan, but I did save and go to community college for paramedic. The above article really bothered me because for years I have been put down by older adults, Friend of court, and places I applied to for work for taking care of my grandparents who have been married almost 60 years, and my mother who has MS. My grandmother has never had a license and my grandfather has had emphysema for 20 years and is on oxygen, and my mother uses a wheel chair or a walker on her good days. (the bad are spent crying in pain in bed, sleeping, or bed ridden for days, sometimes weeks at a time.) FOC says I don’t send enough directly to her and taking care of my family is not a “real” job since I do not pay federal tax’s or get paid a weekly check they can commandeer(that’s a whole other story, I guess they didn’t get the memo that woman are to pass men as family “breadwinners” this year or next.), other older adults say I need to look out for myself and get a real job, and the jobs I do apply for,(to work nights or part time) also say it is not a job and therefore I have a huge employment gap on my resume. I have lived on and off between my grandparents and mothers in Michigan my whole life. I stayed with grandparents because my mom waitress-ed full time at night when I was younger.I do not care what they say, I love my family and will help them no matter what, until they pass or they can afford a home nurse. On the nights and weekends that I don’t have my son, I sit home and reading and learning programming and web design. I am willing to work hard anywhere for any (legal) pay. Everyone complains about everyone else and thinks it is so easy to get a job until it happens to them. I glad I don’t care about money and I do not have anything worth anything, so it can’t be taken away. Maybe all the people who were doing the complaining on the board up there should give me and people like me a chance. We might just be the most kind, loyal, hard working person you ever had working with or for. I just would like to let you know, Not being able to financially support myself makes me feel like a loser and maybe I am just a burden on my family and it would be better of if I just”went away”. If it would not hurt my son and family so much, I would be gone.

Survive After Collapse

A Record Number Of Young Americans Are Unemployed – Are They Just Lazy Or Are There Simply No Jobs Available?

A record number of young Americans are now unemployed.  According to a new report based on U.S. Census Bureau data, only 26 percent of American teenagers between the ages of 16 and 19 had jobs in late 2009 which represents a record low since statistics began to be kept in 1948.  So why is this happening?  Certainly it is much harder to find a job today than it was just 3 or 4 years ago.  But are there other factors involved?  Even when the economy was still flying high back in the middle of the decade, an increasing number of young people were moving back in with Mom and Dad after they graduated from college.  Is it our fault for raising kids who simply cannot adjust to the real world?  Is society to blame for all of the young Americans who believe that everything should be handed to them on a silver platter without them having to work for it?  Or would young Americans be more than willing to step up if there were good opportunities available to them?

The quality of young adults in America today is a theme that a number of our readers have commented on recently.  In particular, there were four comments that were so exceptional that we thought they deserved special attention and we have reproduced them below.  If there is any hope for the future of America, it will be crucial for the next generation to step up to the plate.

But are they capable of it?  Please read the following comments left by our readers and then post your own comment and let us know what you think….

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Joyce:

I keep hearing conservatives say we need to get rid of “Social Security” and go back to when families took care of family members. These people have to be “out of touch with reality” because the family unit has been broken for years in this country and continues to break down. Disabled, elderly people, in general, have no family members willing to help them. Children and grandchildren often have no time for their older parents and grandparents and often feel that older and disabled folk are in the way and only contact them when they themselves need money or wish to check on their possible inheritance from older members of their family. Many young people think nothing of “stealing” from thier parents and elderly grandparents if they think they can get away with it. Many families with children have only one adult or parent to support and nurture the children and many women, right here in Missoula, Montana, are supporting thier “boy friends” and fewer and fewer “couples” are getting “married”. A large number of family units are in deep financial trouble as the good paying jobs keep disappearing and the materialistic young people feel they must buy the latest new toy or electronic gadget on the market. Even these college graduates often leave college with huge debts they incurred in the form of student loans and are often in serious financial trouble. Where is the “family” support and help for the elderly and disabled coming from??? Many young adults often try to make older folks feel they have outlived thier welcome no matter how hard they worked when they were young to help build the nation these young people feel belongs only to them.

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Elldee:

I do know a few individuals in their 20s who are hard workers. One is my son. He was going to college full-time, employed part-time, participates in auto racing, and served in the Army Reserves as a staff sergeant. He was recruited by the race car owner because of his work ethic. He just graduated from college in December with a degree in mechanical engineering technology, has his resume out there and is waiting to hear back. In the meantime, he is working full-time in construction and part-time for a company that builds race car engines. I know I may be accused of being partial because he’s my son, but he is a good worker, loyal, dedicated, motivated, and engaged in whatever he is doing.

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Penny:

I’m 65, and came from very creative, old style common sense family. I know how to do so many things from scratch it would blow your mind. THAT is what gives me confidence.

SKILLS for life, on all levels. I can grow, cook,& preserve food.I can throw together a meal for 6 or more in a hurry out of almost anything. How many of you can make a noodle, a mainstay of hard times ? Can you grow a patch of potatoes? Repair shoes, make shoes for a small child. Hand sew? Mend or iron. Hand wash clothes. Do you know what basic tools are for. What if the web goes? Do you know how to use a library?

More to the point, can you tell when you can’t afford something? Can you tell when you need to go back down the technology scale to provide your needs, because that’s where it’s cheaper? Can you steam rice, mash potatoes? Stop a leak? Can you figure out the cost of your appliances so you know what to turn off and leave off?

Can you tell you can’t afford to use the dryer? Do you know enough about nutrition to know you need to plant a garden? Do you know how much effort is needed for basic jobs, or how long it takes? Can you make yourself get up and walk to get what you need when you have enough for food and gas, but not both? Skills are also nice for barter.

I saw a show on Western kids working in rice fields in Thailand. What BS.Supposedly they’d been there working for 6 weeks. They still had body fat and a double chin.Anybody doing day long hard agri work for 6 weeks would be getting lean and mean.

Character is built as you learn skills and come to respect your own efforts; then you understand the efforts of all. Morality isn’t a stamp you stick on someone, it’s innate unless it’s corrupted. I don’t know what’s happened to our lazy behinds, but it doesn’t seem to me we’ve had enough physical work required of us, so we don’t have a clue how much we’ll need to do..the whines will be heard to the skies, then weeping..we should start a skill bulletin board and tell each other what we know while we have time.

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Kelly:

I work in an ER…. When the s–t really hits the fan, most Americans (90%) will totally fall apart… If they can’t handle a paper cut now (I kid you not!), can you imagine the chaos when things really get rough? When the vicodin runs out? Some parasites make 2-3 visits or more a week to the ER for BS….. the human devolution is truly mind-boggling…

90% of americans are totally worthless parasites… I hired an american to mow my lawn… he got a cell phone call in the middle of it, said he would come back, never did! I had to finish the half-mowed lawn myself….. I went thru 8 people mowing my lawn, till I finally found someone reliable, on time, gentle w the equipment, willing to work hard…… me! Yep, it is that bad… I hired myself to mow my lawn… Now I am hiring myself to plant it in wildflowers for the coming days when lawnmowing will become impossible…

One of the 8 failures was a 16 year old native born American kid doing some landscaping for me… I had to show him how to use a shovel. He had never picked one up before… Unbelievable! … I told him to slope the dirt away from the house so the water would run down and away from the foundation. He asked me, “What is slope?” I had to draw him a picture!! Pitiful… Down the toilet the american empire falls….

Austin Coins

 

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