Wow. I real eye opener. While these stats seem frightening, the market and your money still trade on CPI and PPI or other data. As long as they are the numbers that helps value the stock market, we may not need to pull our hair out (yet).
Another appliance not mentioned here that I wouldn't want to do without is a Toaster Oven. You can cook many of the same food items that you would in a standard oven in a much smaller package. We have ours in the garage. It keeps from heating the house and uses a lot less energy.
3) When your neighbors are earning less, consumption competition eases.
My husband and I are mid-40's and early 50's. We've been in the minority with our acquaintances for years, as they spent money they didn't have on cars, luxury homes and furnishings, eating out, and vacations.
We found "Your Money or Your Life" and "Tightwad Gazette" ten years ago. Coupling frugal living and tracking every expense, no matter how small, with sound investment goals, has put us much further ahead than where we would have been without these tools.
I wouldn't wish it on anyone, but, now our peers are like the grasshopper that sang all summer, and we are the ants.
I only wish now is that we would have worked even harder on our goals. You can bet that every spare dollar we get now will go towards the investments that have suddenly become more affordable.
I don't care if you can prove the numbers or not. Bush's administration gives me little reason to believe them on anything. All I know is nothing I buy or use has gone down in price.
Besides, 68.3% of statistics are made up on the spot so I never really believe them unless I have the raw data for myself to draw my own conclusions.
"The question is how do you prove any of this? I mean, obviously there's data out there and it can be manipulated. But how do you go about proving that data in a verifiable way?"
Ironic. That's the exact same question Winston Smith asks in Orwell's novel 1984.
Great post and comments! Along with my crockpot, immersion blender, and Capresso combo grinder/coffee brewer, I LOVE my toaster/egg cooker combo from Back to Basics. Scoff if you will, but it saves us all kinds of time, energy, and calories. I make my own breakfast sandwiches with whole grain english muffins, good organic and local eggs and cheese, and soy or turkey bacon. The egg poaches in a little chamber on the side of the toaster. The egg/toast cycle makes sure the bread is done at the same time as the egg.
You can also use it to make up to 4 soft or hard-boiled eggs. I make hard-boiled eggs all the time and they turn out great. I think the toaster/egg cooker is much more energy-efficient than boiling eggs the traditional way on the stove.
People smirk when they see this toaster, but I know at least two who have gone on to purchase their own.
Looking forward to the hot-air popper as coffee-bean roaster story!
You can not repair a scratched disc by hand. You can get it repaired for less than $1 USD. I found company that uses an abrasive liquid to resurface the disc. Note: the machine must use
a coolant to keep from over heating the disc and warping the data layer. http://www.wefixdvds.com
If the "rich" are the top one percent (or less), then by virtue of receiving such LARGE sums of money, they inherently pay most of the taxes collected by the federal government.
You see, there is only so much money in the economy. Liberal bashers use it in so many arguments against so called left wing issues and causes.
But if there is only so much money, and such a tiny percent of the population collects most of it, then there are only crumbs left for the rest of us. This is obvious. It has much less to do with laziness, or choosing to be poor, and more to do with political brainwashing and manipulation of people with latent prejudicial tendencies.
We always hear the notion that "the rich provide all of us with our jobs" and "the rich pay the most taxes", and "the rich shouldn't be punished, because then they will put less in to the system" and other hollow claims to perpetuate trickle down economics theory.
Such ideas should be offensive to every strong willed, motivated, and hard working American. What nerve some people have!!!
This suggests that ALL of US are too STUPID and LAZY to be able to start our own new businesses and create a new revolution of jobs. And it completely misses the fact that many of us provide OUR OWN JOBS!
People will always have needs and wants. There will be important issues that face society. This is called "opportunity" and it's where progress and innovation develop and grow and evolve. It spawned the industrial revolution, and the information age. Rich people don't give us jobs, opportunity for innovation to fulfill the wants and needs of the people is what creates jobs.
Furthermore, rich people don't spend their money like average people, that's what makes them wealthy. Average people spend a large portion of their earnings every year, though some may save a decent chunk. Some rich people spend lavishly, but some don't, but what makes them wealthy is KEEPING their money. They invest it. To make the most money possible, not because they want to create jobs and give back to society.
They invest it aggressively in markets that are expected to grow. Or they find one of any number of creative investment strategies, which are more about stock value than productivity or real jobs.
Additionally, they gamble by hedging billions of dollars guessing which way the interest rates are going to go. No matter what people tell you, this does not create jobs.
Speculative investment banking is not what helps the middle class. This does not create real employment opportunities for Americans in need. Anyone who suggests it needs to investigate further and follow the money.
Investing in corporations like Walmart doesn't provide jobs either. Yet similar things are commonly products of trickle down economics. Low paying, part time jobs, with no benefits. Competitive prices at the expense of the employees, while the management and stockholders get the reward. Investment into Walmart (or any company, even a start-up venture) is not to provide jobs, it is to earn a return. It is to use existing wealth to make more money, aside from having a job like the working class folks do. Rich getting richer is not just liberal rhetoric, it's a known phenomenon also. To suggest otherwise is terribly naive.
Working class people do not have the funds to invest like this, and earn a living from dividends and interest. That lifestyle does little to benefit average Americans.
The model for this argument is based on an interesting paradigm.
It recognizes that wealth is sometimes inherited and sometimes earned.
But it also suggests that those who accumulate the wealth are more worthy to receive it than everyone else, and that they alone can make best use of that wealth and save us all with their benevolent spending, which theoretically injects money into the economy, which will then flow down to all of us while we can sing Kumbaya and hold hands and frolic in the glory of their kindness and the rewards which they so generously bestow upon us. (sounds rather liberal to me)
It explains this by claiming that if the rich don't have enough extra money, then they can't hire as many people, so there are less jobs. Because only the people who are CURRENTLY rich, are smart enough to create jobs for the rest of us who rely on them.
These are arguments from people who claim to be all about personal responsibility and making your own opportunities and creating your own destiny. It's strange how people who hold such noble ideals, turn around and claim dependence on corporations for jobs. It's not so different from the "hand up" type programs they so vehemently oppose. Just a different institution doling out the benefits.
But aside from the more obvious holes, there are even further problems with this flogic (flawed logic). First of all, large corporations with LOTS of money often manipulate markets and strongarm their industry into exclusive contracts, and use their power and might to eliminate competition. They also author legislation designed to hide behind a shared agenda (environment, civil rights) but are really designed to give themselves a unique advantage. This is beyond capitalism. It is eradication.
So if rich get taxed more, and hire less people, and large corporations become less mighty and powerful and offer less jobs to the public. This creates opportunity, in the way closer to that which Adam Smith described as a free market. There needs to be competition, and a system devoid of morals (capitalism) needs to be tempered with consideration of what is good and in the best interest of everyone, not just the few.
If the rich choose to stop putting money into the system, they will no longer be able to maintain their competitive edge through money and power, then new businesses emerge and take us into a new era. These periods of growth and evolution of the market are where the serious up-trends manifest.
When this opportunity exists, the finite amount of wealth begins to distribute more evenly, which actually would lead to less individual income tax per person overall, and less need for individual services like welfare and unemployment insurance (as opposed to roads and police). Each person would earn significantly less than the top 1% currently do, so they would pay less taxes by being in a lower tax bracket. The same amount of money in our economy but there wouldn't be such disparaging differences in wages and opportunities.
The bottom line is that some people earn $5 an hour, some earn $20, some earn $50. Some get benefits, some even a pension. Then others earn $500k a year plus bonuses and fringe benefits, plus traditional benefits of a standard compensation package. Some earn a million a year plus the other goodies.
Does the million dollar a year guy REALLY work 20 times harder than the $50 an hour guy? Is he 20 times smarter, or 20 times more worthy of having more wealth? Who is qualified to say that he deserves so much when some people have so little?
But is it really about taxes anyway?
Do you want to vote for people who said that there were too many regulations in the securities and equities market, and fought hard to eliminate them. Now, without any real oversight, the industry is collapsing before our eyes. And some of these same politicians are allowing the taxpayer to pick up the burden for the greed of a relatively small portion of the population.
Or maybe you wish to vote for people who destroyed the constitution, and created vast new powers for the Executive Branch of our federal government, perverting our founding fathers great design of checks and balances. The president of our nation can unilaterally declare war with a pre-emptive strikenow, without the UN, and pull out of treaties that took years to establish. This instantly eroded decades of work in trying to get the world community to agree to certain minimum standards of human decency and common ground.
How can we expect growing nations to abide by rules that our government refuses to recognize? Or better yet, how can we let these people REPRESENT US???
It is refreshing to read an honest appraisal of what is really happening to the US Economy and how the US Government is covering it's butt. You'd never hear this from mainstream news sources, but the alternative press has been on this story for years. The bailout of Freddie and Fannie is another feeble attempt to stave off the inevitable.
stagflation is coming, and coming soon. The government is trying to control consumer panic, but at the end of the day we're heading towards a financial disaster of Biblical proportions. Hold onto your hats, this is going to be a bumpy ride.
The question is how do you prove any of this? I mean, obviously there's data out there and it can be manipulated. But how do you go about proving that data in a verifiable way? Certainly not using anecdotal evidence like your daily experience to judge how well the US economy is floating along.
Is there not an independent non-profit source for data on the US economy that isn't using a bias to promote an agenda?
that it gets attentions there is a service provided by the Post Office in conjunction with Certified Return Receipt mail...
for an extra couple of bucks you can specify that ONLY the person it is addressed to may Sign for it...Secretaries, Admin Assistants, Mail Room people No Can Do..
Postman has to see the person and they have to show ID and they Personally Sign.
I also love my breadmaker (from Goodwill for less than $5). I am not fond of the loaf that it produces however, so I use the dough setting and then give it a quick kneading and let it rise in a regular bread pan before baking it in the oven. The breadmaker serves as a mixer, kneader and warm place to rise.
Thanks, Paul. I am a retired classroom teacher and appreciate the opportunity to get a free copy of the Constitution. I ordered 5 copies so that I can give them to family members.
You know as someone who spent years in the classroom, I was often limited not only on my ordering budget, but on my photocopying budget as well.
If someone is willing to mail me multiple copies so I can have a classroom set of such a relevant document for classroom study, I say: Ya. Hoo. And so, I'm sure will many other classroom teachers. It's tough to find 25 (or more) copies of something to use for a group study. And to have a preserved photocopied set would require sheet protectors and binders. Not exactly free, at least from a teacher's perspective.
If there are other sources, I would think people would feel free to post those in their comments, but I haven't seen that. Paul hasn't asked anybody to agree with any type of agenda. He's simply pointed out a freebie. If others know of other sources, than I would hope they would just let the rest of know rather than accusing someone of something that they haven't done.
By this reasoning, any non-republican would not order even a free government copy of anything they are entitled to, right? Since that's the party that's been in office for the past eight years? I'm not seeing the reasoning behind the attacks on Paul, here. And I'm not saying anything anti-Repbublican. Just pointing out what I see as flawed logic.
Why can't we all just be grateful he pointed out a great freebie? If the agenda from this source isn't something you agree with, fine. And if folks really have issues with being on that particular mailing list, fine. There are really much better ways to point that out, and as I've stated already, provide a link to another source if you really have an issue.
Sorry to sound like such an irate mother hen, but we all work hard here, guys. You're all free to disagree, certainly. We support free speech here, even when comments might be a bit hurtful at the end of a long, exhausting day. Since everyone here supports the rights and feelings of our valued readers, let's all try to give Paul the respect he deserves. Not trying to speak for everyone, just putting out a request for manners and moderation.
Wait, wait... name a liberal group that will send out a free copy postage paid.
Thought so...
There isn't one.
The constitution is absolute genius created by genius. It created a limited constitutional government bound by laws. Unfortunately, it's been gutted by both the Dems & Repubs.
Everyone should read it and understand it. Who cares who sends it out?
Wow. I real eye opener. While these stats seem frightening, the market and your money still trade on CPI and PPI or other data. As long as they are the numbers that helps value the stock market, we may not need to pull our hair out (yet).
-Cheaplee
God Bless your family and may your son beat this tumor.
Thanks for the link. I can't believe all the hate you're getting in the comments.
Another appliance not mentioned here that I wouldn't want to do without is a Toaster Oven. You can cook many of the same food items that you would in a standard oven in a much smaller package. We have ours in the garage. It keeps from heating the house and uses a lot less energy.
3) When your neighbors are earning less, consumption competition eases.
My husband and I are mid-40's and early 50's. We've been in the minority with our acquaintances for years, as they spent money they didn't have on cars, luxury homes and furnishings, eating out, and vacations.
We found "Your Money or Your Life" and "Tightwad Gazette" ten years ago. Coupling frugal living and tracking every expense, no matter how small, with sound investment goals, has put us much further ahead than where we would have been without these tools.
I wouldn't wish it on anyone, but, now our peers are like the grasshopper that sang all summer, and we are the ants.
I only wish now is that we would have worked even harder on our goals. You can bet that every spare dollar we get now will go towards the investments that have suddenly become more affordable.
Regarding comment #1: I don't care.
I don't care if you can prove the numbers or not. Bush's administration gives me little reason to believe them on anything. All I know is nothing I buy or use has gone down in price.
Besides, 68.3% of statistics are made up on the spot so I never really believe them unless I have the raw data for myself to draw my own conclusions.
"The question is how do you prove any of this? I mean, obviously there's data out there and it can be manipulated. But how do you go about proving that data in a verifiable way?"
Ironic. That's the exact same question Winston Smith asks in Orwell's novel 1984.
Great post and comments! Along with my crockpot, immersion blender, and Capresso combo grinder/coffee brewer, I LOVE my toaster/egg cooker combo from Back to Basics. Scoff if you will, but it saves us all kinds of time, energy, and calories. I make my own breakfast sandwiches with whole grain english muffins, good organic and local eggs and cheese, and soy or turkey bacon. The egg poaches in a little chamber on the side of the toaster. The egg/toast cycle makes sure the bread is done at the same time as the egg.
You can also use it to make up to 4 soft or hard-boiled eggs. I make hard-boiled eggs all the time and they turn out great. I think the toaster/egg cooker is much more energy-efficient than boiling eggs the traditional way on the stove.
People smirk when they see this toaster, but I know at least two who have gone on to purchase their own.
Looking forward to the hot-air popper as coffee-bean roaster story!
How about we all get a do-over and everyone in the world gets a house, food and equal rights. Maybe then I will start caring. :)
Or as Samuel Clemens said:
Lies, damn lies, and statistics...
You can not repair a scratched disc by hand. You can get it repaired for less than $1 USD. I found company that uses an abrasive liquid to resurface the disc. Note: the machine must use
a coolant to keep from over heating the disc and warping the data layer. http://www.wefixdvds.com
If the "rich" are the top one percent (or less), then by virtue of receiving such LARGE sums of money, they inherently pay most of the taxes collected by the federal government.
You see, there is only so much money in the economy. Liberal bashers use it in so many arguments against so called left wing issues and causes.
But if there is only so much money, and such a tiny percent of the population collects most of it, then there are only crumbs left for the rest of us. This is obvious. It has much less to do with laziness, or choosing to be poor, and more to do with political brainwashing and manipulation of people with latent prejudicial tendencies.
We always hear the notion that "the rich provide all of us with our jobs" and "the rich pay the most taxes", and "the rich shouldn't be punished, because then they will put less in to the system" and other hollow claims to perpetuate trickle down economics theory.
Such ideas should be offensive to every strong willed, motivated, and hard working American. What nerve some people have!!!
This suggests that ALL of US are too STUPID and LAZY to be able to start our own new businesses and create a new revolution of jobs. And it completely misses the fact that many of us provide OUR OWN JOBS!
People will always have needs and wants. There will be important issues that face society. This is called "opportunity" and it's where progress and innovation develop and grow and evolve. It spawned the industrial revolution, and the information age. Rich people don't give us jobs, opportunity for innovation to fulfill the wants and needs of the people is what creates jobs.
Furthermore, rich people don't spend their money like average people, that's what makes them wealthy. Average people spend a large portion of their earnings every year, though some may save a decent chunk. Some rich people spend lavishly, but some don't, but what makes them wealthy is KEEPING their money. They invest it. To make the most money possible, not because they want to create jobs and give back to society.
They invest it aggressively in markets that are expected to grow. Or they find one of any number of creative investment strategies, which are more about stock value than productivity or real jobs.
Additionally, they gamble by hedging billions of dollars guessing which way the interest rates are going to go. No matter what people tell you, this does not create jobs.
Speculative investment banking is not what helps the middle class. This does not create real employment opportunities for Americans in need. Anyone who suggests it needs to investigate further and follow the money.
Investing in corporations like Walmart doesn't provide jobs either. Yet similar things are commonly products of trickle down economics. Low paying, part time jobs, with no benefits. Competitive prices at the expense of the employees, while the management and stockholders get the reward. Investment into Walmart (or any company, even a start-up venture) is not to provide jobs, it is to earn a return. It is to use existing wealth to make more money, aside from having a job like the working class folks do. Rich getting richer is not just liberal rhetoric, it's a known phenomenon also. To suggest otherwise is terribly naive.
Working class people do not have the funds to invest like this, and earn a living from dividends and interest. That lifestyle does little to benefit average Americans.
The model for this argument is based on an interesting paradigm.
It recognizes that wealth is sometimes inherited and sometimes earned.
But it also suggests that those who accumulate the wealth are more worthy to receive it than everyone else, and that they alone can make best use of that wealth and save us all with their benevolent spending, which theoretically injects money into the economy, which will then flow down to all of us while we can sing Kumbaya and hold hands and frolic in the glory of their kindness and the rewards which they so generously bestow upon us. (sounds rather liberal to me)
It explains this by claiming that if the rich don't have enough extra money, then they can't hire as many people, so there are less jobs. Because only the people who are CURRENTLY rich, are smart enough to create jobs for the rest of us who rely on them.
These are arguments from people who claim to be all about personal responsibility and making your own opportunities and creating your own destiny. It's strange how people who hold such noble ideals, turn around and claim dependence on corporations for jobs. It's not so different from the "hand up" type programs they so vehemently oppose. Just a different institution doling out the benefits.
But aside from the more obvious holes, there are even further problems with this flogic (flawed logic). First of all, large corporations with LOTS of money often manipulate markets and strongarm their industry into exclusive contracts, and use their power and might to eliminate competition. They also author legislation designed to hide behind a shared agenda (environment, civil rights) but are really designed to give themselves a unique advantage. This is beyond capitalism. It is eradication.
So if rich get taxed more, and hire less people, and large corporations become less mighty and powerful and offer less jobs to the public. This creates opportunity, in the way closer to that which Adam Smith described as a free market. There needs to be competition, and a system devoid of morals (capitalism) needs to be tempered with consideration of what is good and in the best interest of everyone, not just the few.
If the rich choose to stop putting money into the system, they will no longer be able to maintain their competitive edge through money and power, then new businesses emerge and take us into a new era. These periods of growth and evolution of the market are where the serious up-trends manifest.
When this opportunity exists, the finite amount of wealth begins to distribute more evenly, which actually would lead to less individual income tax per person overall, and less need for individual services like welfare and unemployment insurance (as opposed to roads and police). Each person would earn significantly less than the top 1% currently do, so they would pay less taxes by being in a lower tax bracket. The same amount of money in our economy but there wouldn't be such disparaging differences in wages and opportunities.
The bottom line is that some people earn $5 an hour, some earn $20, some earn $50. Some get benefits, some even a pension. Then others earn $500k a year plus bonuses and fringe benefits, plus traditional benefits of a standard compensation package. Some earn a million a year plus the other goodies.
Does the million dollar a year guy REALLY work 20 times harder than the $50 an hour guy? Is he 20 times smarter, or 20 times more worthy of having more wealth? Who is qualified to say that he deserves so much when some people have so little?
But is it really about taxes anyway?
Do you want to vote for people who said that there were too many regulations in the securities and equities market, and fought hard to eliminate them. Now, without any real oversight, the industry is collapsing before our eyes. And some of these same politicians are allowing the taxpayer to pick up the burden for the greed of a relatively small portion of the population.
Or maybe you wish to vote for people who destroyed the constitution, and created vast new powers for the Executive Branch of our federal government, perverting our founding fathers great design of checks and balances. The president of our nation can unilaterally declare war with a pre-emptive strikenow, without the UN, and pull out of treaties that took years to establish. This instantly eroded decades of work in trying to get the world community to agree to certain minimum standards of human decency and common ground.
How can we expect growing nations to abide by rules that our government refuses to recognize? Or better yet, how can we let these people REPRESENT US???
It is refreshing to read an honest appraisal of what is really happening to the US Economy and how the US Government is covering it's butt. You'd never hear this from mainstream news sources, but the alternative press has been on this story for years. The bailout of Freddie and Fannie is another feeble attempt to stave off the inevitable.
Grapes of Wrath x 1,000,000
Raven
-Australia
stagflation is coming, and coming soon. The government is trying to control consumer panic, but at the end of the day we're heading towards a financial disaster of Biblical proportions. Hold onto your hats, this is going to be a bumpy ride.
The question is how do you prove any of this? I mean, obviously there's data out there and it can be manipulated. But how do you go about proving that data in a verifiable way? Certainly not using anecdotal evidence like your daily experience to judge how well the US economy is floating along.
Is there not an independent non-profit source for data on the US economy that isn't using a bias to promote an agenda?
this is a brilliant article. you rock
Who said the alternative is worse????
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/JI23Dj06.html
my opinion only
that it gets attentions there is a service provided by the Post Office in conjunction with Certified Return Receipt mail...
for an extra couple of bucks you can specify that ONLY the person it is addressed to may Sign for it...Secretaries, Admin Assistants, Mail Room people No Can Do..
Postman has to see the person and they have to show ID and they Personally Sign.
Believe me it Gets Attention.
~ R
I also love my breadmaker (from Goodwill for less than $5). I am not fond of the loaf that it produces however, so I use the dough setting and then give it a quick kneading and let it rise in a regular bread pan before baking it in the oven. The breadmaker serves as a mixer, kneader and warm place to rise.
You can a free copy off of the internet! :)
http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html
Would love to get a chance to check out this book!
Some people are calling these bailouts the "splurge".
http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2008/09/rules-for-the-s.html
Heh.
It's a bad situation all around, for sure, but if the alternative is in fact worse than the bailouts... well, what else can we do?
Thanks, Paul. I am a retired classroom teacher and appreciate the opportunity to get a free copy of the Constitution. I ordered 5 copies so that I can give them to family members.
You know as someone who spent years in the classroom, I was often limited not only on my ordering budget, but on my photocopying budget as well.
If someone is willing to mail me multiple copies so I can have a classroom set of such a relevant document for classroom study, I say: Ya. Hoo. And so, I'm sure will many other classroom teachers. It's tough to find 25 (or more) copies of something to use for a group study. And to have a preserved photocopied set would require sheet protectors and binders. Not exactly free, at least from a teacher's perspective.
If there are other sources, I would think people would feel free to post those in their comments, but I haven't seen that. Paul hasn't asked anybody to agree with any type of agenda. He's simply pointed out a freebie. If others know of other sources, than I would hope they would just let the rest of know rather than accusing someone of something that they haven't done.
By this reasoning, any non-republican would not order even a free government copy of anything they are entitled to, right? Since that's the party that's been in office for the past eight years? I'm not seeing the reasoning behind the attacks on Paul, here. And I'm not saying anything anti-Repbublican. Just pointing out what I see as flawed logic.
Why can't we all just be grateful he pointed out a great freebie? If the agenda from this source isn't something you agree with, fine. And if folks really have issues with being on that particular mailing list, fine. There are really much better ways to point that out, and as I've stated already, provide a link to another source if you really have an issue.
Sorry to sound like such an irate mother hen, but we all work hard here, guys. You're all free to disagree, certainly. We support free speech here, even when comments might be a bit hurtful at the end of a long, exhausting day. Since everyone here supports the rights and feelings of our valued readers, let's all try to give Paul the respect he deserves. Not trying to speak for everyone, just putting out a request for manners and moderation.
Wait, wait... name a liberal group that will send out a free copy postage paid.
Thought so...
There isn't one.
The constitution is absolute genius created by genius. It created a limited constitutional government bound by laws. Unfortunately, it's been gutted by both the Dems & Repubs.
Everyone should read it and understand it. Who cares who sends it out?