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10 7

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1

It's always sickening to hear the Ayn Rand, libertarian types dismiss the poverty as being borne of laziness.

I don't know why a film documentary hasn't been made a about America's tent cities. Where's Micheal Moore? Where's Noam Chomsky?

3

If it is not corrected we will have more families needing public assistance, social unrest and political extremes like Trumpty Dumpty and his crooked self-dealingAdministration.

I think Trumps actions are hastening a Fall for the U.S. in power and influence.

2

I still blame the ease of credit for the erosion of our income.

You don't need a raise but here's a credit card to get what you want.
You don't need Healthcare insurance but if you don't pay your bill we will report it to the credit bureau and then you can't get the credit card you need.
You can't afford a house down payment , just rent, we like when you do that.

Ease of credit is a sumptom of what is really going on as a part of the "trickel down" con. What they re doing by keeping wages flat and making credit easier to get is in essence making sure that almost everything you earn goes to make the rich richer, in one way or another.

Ever since "trickle down' started more and more of the money has flowed to the top, and the middle class has been slidign down intot he ranks of the "working poor." Over the logn term this is unsustainable, because the middle class is the market base, and at some point the lack of discretionary money in the middle class will reach a tipping point and almost everyone except those at the top will very likely slide into poverty.

@snytiger6 Right before I die, which is not that far off, should I run up my credit cards to $70,000 , the limit on them......LOL

7

This was coming since the early 80s. It does not come to surprise. I don't know why people still want to come to America. It is a land of the rich for the rich. Anyone else is not included. It is sort of a Gilded Age like a comment I just read but this is for only a very few and selected group. The rest of us can go and "eat cake". We do not need a degree in economics ro see what is going on. One thing is for sure, America is waist deep into its decline as an economic empire and people are starting to feel it. It will be felt greatly next year when Trump's new tax laws come into effect. People should start voting their wallets. Electing the same corrupt people over and over is not working and never will. Why vote against your best interests? The rich know who to vote for.

I agree.

What? Only waist deep? That actually seems to be pretty optimistic to me. I think there are soem who are already snorkeling to try to keep going.

4

Hey, don't wake me up, I'm sleeping so I can try to live the American dream.

1

....... and yet many people is trying to come over to the US. How many trying to go to Russia?

There are other places.

@Sticks48 where would you consider going?

@btroje Except for Costa Rica all the other places are to cold, Canada and maybe Sweden.

People still want to come here based on the past and our reputation. However, even illegal crossings are down to a 39 year low. That is in part due to fewer people wanting to come here while Trump is in office, but illegal crossings also went down under Obama, so the trend is actually shifting. The U.S. is losing its luster and attractiveness to immigrants and the world.

@btroje Norway, The Netherlands, Sweden or some other Democratic Socialist country (most are in Northern Europe)

@snytiger6...... That was exactly my point, we may be losing luster and attractiveness and yet THEY are still trying to come over..... Anyhow, I have lived in three different countries, two continents... This is the greatest country in the world for me, I have everything I want, which is pleanty of opportunities. The balance is up to me on how I choose to react to it.

2

A while back someone wrote a book about income inequality. The premise of the book was that looking at the past history of nations of the world, when the inequality between rich and poor reaches a certain tipping point there is always a revolution. The poor strike back at the rich. Sorry I don't remember the title or the author.

More importantly, prior to revolution, there is an economic collapse. Income inequality is an economic symptom that occurs consistently right before a leading country loses power and influence.

3

I've been trying to explain to people for the past 20 years we were headed here. I have no economic degree, no college at all for that matter but I've always understood how the 1929 crash happened and the many factors both social and economic that led to that crash.

We are there now.

It is very similar, but yet different. It wont' be exactly the same.

With the tariffs Trump imposed on China an dnow the Chinese tariffs on American crops, which will bankrupt a lot of farmers if they go into efect. circumstances get a lot mroe similar to the 1929 crash.

1

This really has little to no reflection on people who have things to do, to be honest.

For some reason, people are chalking this up to taxation. I find that to be a spurious claim, because there are a lot of variables between taxation, and the financial performance of people. Just think about the scope that is being talked about. We are talking about all fifty states in the article, here.

This article is nonsense.

Now, as far as the taxation policy goes, the people who are going to be affected the most are people who are living beyond their means, in which case they are, therefore, the creators of their own problem, and as long as they keep a small realm of possibilities for themselves, they will remain in that way, and one cannot pretend to know their particular situation from his ivory tower.

2

Not so surprising for those who follow economic news.

Yeah, I keep tellign people we are experiencing a kind of second "Gilded Age", bu I usually just get blank stares.

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