If this is true, we are in trouble...

[Ray From Cleveland]

The problem is colleges are doing nothing different than any other business. It's supply and demand. The more demand, the more expensive the supply.

The problem is Baby-Boomers f*cked up America, and keep coming up with more of the "Same Solutions" that "Caused the issues"

My generation is more educated, the productivity is up, the cost of getting educated is more, cost of healthcare is up, and yet we're making less money in comparison to your generation had.

If it's broken, you DO FIX IT, you don't break it more, and more.

Everyone SHOULD want better for their kids, just some are either too dumb, or too apathetic to do better for their kids.

So how do you "fix" the problem of high college costs, place a government limit on what they can charge?

What caused the problem is that manual labor has less value than it did before mostly because of automation. Because of that, kids can't get out of school and make a good enough living to buy a house and support a family. The only way to do that is to have a higher education.

The alternative to that is trade school. You won't make as much as somebody with a college degree and you may have to work with your hands, but you also don't have the college bills either.

Automation increases productivity, and thus more production, and therefor WEALTH created.

That wealth was never seen, because of Illegals, because of outsourcing, because of monopolies laying people off, and raising prices.

This is CRAPitalist America, and it's even worse than Soviet Russia.

At least in Soviet Russia they didn't funnel all the jobs into foreigners hands who despise them.

I don't see how we're not going to "NATURALLY" collapse in the near future, if we don't end up killing each other in the streets first, and therefor "ARTIFICIALLY" collapse.

I'm glad I'll be off this planet by then; at least out of the workforce. I wouldn't want to be a person in the future with no aptitude to earn a higher education and try to make it on manual labor alone.

Millennials earn 20% less than Babyboomers did at the same age, Millennials have a net-worth 50% less than Babyboomers did at the same age.
(Of course adjusting for inflation AKA Real Wages)

This is startling, and shows the system that we have isn't working.

That can be attributed to a lot of things. For instance perhaps you read the conversation between Manonthestreet and I. Right now our industry needs over 30,000 more drivers that they can't find. They are turning to foreigners to take these jobs Americans won't do. And I can tell you some of those are pretty good paying jobs if you're willing to do the work.

So I think attitude has something to do with it as well. As a baby boomer myself, I can testify several times I had more than one job, or a job that I worked on Saturday as well. At one time I had three jobs. I'm no hero because several of my friends did the same thing. In fact one very close friend works at the company I do. He's been working two full-time jobs for over 30 years now.

You don't see that kind of effort to get ahead out of the millennials as you did in our generation. When we were younger all we thought about was money. How to make more, how to get a better job, work or hours was no hurdle for us.

 

[AntiTrump]

These statistics are claimed to be true:
1. 50% of American wage earners earn less than $30k.
2. 63% of Americans can’t afford a $1,000 emergency.
3. 80% of American workers live pay check to pay check.
4. Since 1973 American productivity has increased by 77%, yet hourly pay has grown by 12%. If the minimum wage was tracked to productivity, it would be over $20 an hour today.
5. 41% of American workers earn less than $12 per hour, with most without employer provided HC.
6. Since 2008 the federal government and the Fed created $26 trillion out of nothing. Was any of this enormous sum spent on infrastructure, public education, universal HC, bail out 5.1 million people who lost their homes?

Not a pretty picture for the poor and middle class. Hopefully things are improving or we are headed for big trouble.

Trump is doing his best to fix this..... the more democrats we vote out of office the better off these people will be......

That is why November is so important....democrats thrive on poverty, racism, hate and violence......

There's no proof trump is trying to fix things else you're talking about tax cuts for the rich and his other disgraceful policies.

No proof!? Dood, you have to get out and about more often.

You need to look stuff up before you type and make sure it's facts.

 

[eagle1462010]

The value of the dollar has decreased so much that it simply can't buy what it used to buy.........Increasing the borrowing devaluates it............and makes everything cost more. We do not have the buying power of our dollars that we had in Leave it to Beaver days where 1 parent can work and have a stay home wife............Cost of housing and basic necessities have gone up because the dollar is dying...............Which makes the American Dream die............

The Markets inflate commodity pricing as well through the Great Bubble Machines and make it even harder to make ends meat.

Top it off with an invasion of Cheap Labor coming into the United States who drive down wages then we have what we have today. Migrants both born here, here illegally, overstayed visas, chain migration, and etc.......have increased our population by 68 million since 1990. The Chamber of Commerce wants them to keep coming for cheap labor.......and increased profits.......This was made even clearer when the Koch Brothers were recently demanding more Amnesty and migrant labor or threatening to stop paying politicians.

We deal with the debt or go under............stop the flow into the country......End all subsidies to business, all tax credits, all foreign aid......and revise the unfunded liabilities that are coming do.......If not.....this only ends badly.......But those in office will not listen to us.......they have enriched themselves off being career politicians...........

 

[Foxfyre]

This stuff has been true for a long time

Americans do not save
Do not like to save

Not much to save at times.

When I think back to being a teen in the 70's, what did we have? We had a television set, a landline telephone, a stereo with an 8-track player. Most of us were one-car families and ate out about three of four times a year. Maybe went to the movies about eight or ten times a year.

What do we spend our money on today that we didn't have back then? Family cell phone plans with smart phones for every member of the family. Cable or satellite television with 400 stations. Three video game systems complete with game cartridges. Pay-per-view movie channels. Netflix. The internet. Big screen televisions. A car for every adult member in the family. Fast food restaurants a half-dozen times a week or more.

Do people realize how much money we would all have if we lived like we did in the 70's?

Amen and Amen. The problem is NOT low wages. The problem is attitude and mind set and basic values that determine what is really important.

I have lived paycheck to paycheck but we did live. The fact is most families can manage with one car, without smart phones, without cable TV that alone costs more per month than we had to live on when we first started out. You don't have to eat out and it is possible to eat quite well on very little money if you manage properly and don't require the fancier foods.

We didn't have credit cards back then but had layaway plans at Sears and J.C. Penney so whatever we took home was paid for. What few charge accounts existed were controlled by local merchants who got paid every month or they cancelled your credit so it was hard to get into serious trouble financially. I can recall how amazing it was when we got our first gas card making going on vacation simpler. But we paid for our very infrequent motel rooms with cash or travelers checks and wrote a check for each of our monthly bills and purchases.

The government did absolutely nothing for us for day to day needs and expenses and we didn't expect it to. Many many of us started out dirt poor, but nobody stayed poor indefinitely because we expected to do what was necessary to achieve and improve our standard of living and everybody did.

What we need is one huge national attitude adjustment instead of living on the edge and then expecting the government to fix everything for us.

That is the problem. The government does very little for the middle class and poor, but they do a shit load for the extreme wealthy.

It is a racket the Mafia can only dream of.

The government has spent trillions of dollars on the poor and the government would not have those trillions of dollars to spend on the poor without those 'extremely wealthy.' However, the more trillions we spend on the poor, the more 'poor' we seem to have with us, and we have many more people who are now entrenched in poverty and training subsequent generations to live in poverty.

Benjamin Franklin once wisely observed after extensive travel to other lands:
“I am for doing good to the poor, but...I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed...that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.”

The Founders to a man believed the central government should not be in the business of any form of charity but rather should facilitate individual freedom and ability to take initiative as the best policy to encourage prosperity for all. The Constitution gives the government absolutely no authority to take money from those who earn it and give it to those who do not. That is how it was intended so that excess authority--dictatorship--would not be given to the central government.

True but not so much after the Grest Recession. While the wealthy pay most of the tax, they also get most of the benefits.

I am not seeing that. The wealthy don't qualify for earned income credit, SNAP, and more often than not pay taxes on a much larger percentage of their income than those of the middle class who pay taxes. Roughly 50% of wage earners pay little or nothing in taxes. You can't tell me the wealthy get much advantage, let along most of the advantages.

 

[bullwinkle]

The problem is Baby-Boomers f*cked up America, and keep coming up with more of the "Same Solutions" that "Caused the issues"

My generation is more educated, the productivity is up, the cost of getting educated is more, cost of healthcare is up, and yet we're making less money in comparison to your generation had.

If it's broken, you DO FIX IT, you don't break it more, and more.

Everyone SHOULD want better for their kids, just some are either too dumb, or too apathetic to do better for their kids.

So how do you "fix" the problem of high college costs, place a government limit on what they can charge?

What caused the problem is that manual labor has less value than it did before mostly because of automation. Because of that, kids can't get out of school and make a good enough living to buy a house and support a family. The only way to do that is to have a higher education.

The alternative to that is trade school. You won't make as much as somebody with a college degree and you may have to work with your hands, but you also don't have the college bills either.

Automation increases productivity, and thus more production, and therefor WEALTH created.

That wealth was never seen, because of Illegals, because of outsourcing, because of monopolies laying people off, and raising prices.

This is CRAPitalist America, and it's even worse than Soviet Russia.

At least in Soviet Russia they didn't funnel all the jobs into foreigners hands who despise them.

I don't see how we're not going to "NATURALLY" collapse in the near future, if we don't end up killing each other in the streets first, and therefor "ARTIFICIALLY" collapse.

I'm glad I'll be off this planet by then; at least out of the workforce. I wouldn't want to be a person in the future with no aptitude to earn a higher education and try to make it on manual labor alone.

Millennials earn 20% less than Babyboomers did at the same age, Millennials have a net-worth 50% less than Babyboomers did at the same age.
(Of course adjusting for inflation AKA Real Wages)

This is startling, and shows the system that we have isn't working.

That can be attributed to a lot of things. For instance perhaps you read the conversation between Manonthestreet and I. Right now our industry needs over 30,000 more drivers that they can't find. They are turning to foreigners to take these jobs Americans won't do. And I can tell you some of those are pretty good paying jobs if you're willing to do the work.

So I think attitude has something to do with it as well. As a baby boomer myself, I can testify several times I had more than one job, or a job that I worked on Saturday as well. At one time I had three jobs. I'm no hero because several of my friends did the same thing. In fact one very close friend works at the company I do. He's been working two full-time jobs for over 30 years now.

You don't see that kind of effort to get ahead out of the millennials as you did in our generation. When we were younger all we thought about was money. How to make more, how to get a better job, work or hours was no hurdle for us.

Another thing I think we can be proud of is that we accepted if we wanted something we had to work for it. I worked 2 jobs AND volunteered 24 hrs per week on an ambulance, no days off, and on the rigs, not even holidays off. I now own everything I have and pay off my credit cards monthly, so I can't buy more than I can pay for. I don't have everything I want, not by a long shot. But I do have everything I need, and I am grateful. Like you, I am hardly unique. We were raised that way, fearing debt. Another thing is that in my youth, children were a reflection of their parents, and any embarrassment to them got us a really sore butt. I, in turn, raised my kids that way, but that was 60 years ago and expectations are a lot lower now. We even had some dude at the school board want to drop the avg GPA to below 2. I raised hell about that too.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

So how do you "fix" the problem of high college costs, place a government limit on what they can charge?

What caused the problem is that manual labor has less value than it did before mostly because of automation. Because of that, kids can't get out of school and make a good enough living to buy a house and support a family. The only way to do that is to have a higher education.

The alternative to that is trade school. You won't make as much as somebody with a college degree and you may have to work with your hands, but you also don't have the college bills either.

Automation increases productivity, and thus more production, and therefor WEALTH created.

That wealth was never seen, because of Illegals, because of outsourcing, because of monopolies laying people off, and raising prices.

This is CRAPitalist America, and it's even worse than Soviet Russia.

At least in Soviet Russia they didn't funnel all the jobs into foreigners hands who despise them.

I don't see how we're not going to "NATURALLY" collapse in the near future, if we don't end up killing each other in the streets first, and therefor "ARTIFICIALLY" collapse.

I'm glad I'll be off this planet by then; at least out of the workforce. I wouldn't want to be a person in the future with no aptitude to earn a higher education and try to make it on manual labor alone.

Millennials earn 20% less than Babyboomers did at the same age, Millennials have a net-worth 50% less than Babyboomers did at the same age.
(Of course adjusting for inflation AKA Real Wages)

This is startling, and shows the system that we have isn't working.

That can be attributed to a lot of things. For instance perhaps you read the conversation between Manonthestreet and I. Right now our industry needs over 30,000 more drivers that they can't find. They are turning to foreigners to take these jobs Americans won't do. And I can tell you some of those are pretty good paying jobs if you're willing to do the work.

So I think attitude has something to do with it as well. As a baby boomer myself, I can testify several times I had more than one job, or a job that I worked on Saturday as well. At one time I had three jobs. I'm no hero because several of my friends did the same thing. In fact one very close friend works at the company I do. He's been working two full-time jobs for over 30 years now.

You don't see that kind of effort to get ahead out of the millennials as you did in our generation. When we were younger all we thought about was money. How to make more, how to get a better job, work or hours was no hurdle for us.

Another thing I think we can be proud of is that we accepted if we wanted something we had to work for it. I worked 2 jobs AND volunteered 24 hrs per week on an ambulance, no days off, and on the rigs, not even holidays off. I now own everything I have and pay off my credit cards monthly, so I can't buy more than I can pay for. I don't have everything I want, not by a long shot. But I do have everything I need, and I am grateful. Like you, I am hardly unique. We were raised that way, fearing debt. Another thing is that in my youth, children were a reflection of their parents, and any embarrassment to them got us a really sore butt. I, in turn, raised my kids that way, but that was 60 years ago and expectations are a lot lower now. We even had some dude at the school board want to drop the avg GPA to below 2. I raised hell about that too.

Exactly. We were a different breed than the younger people today. Of course the generation before us made the same claim against us.

The owners son works at our company. He's a millennial. He told me he's embarrassed of his generation. According to him, half of his friends don't even work. They still live with their parents because they don't need to work that way; a job here or there, fifteen to twenty hours a week at times.

We were taught the earlier you get out of that starting gate, the better off you'll be. I was one of the lucky ones. My father was a bricklayer. I started working with him at age 11. It happened one time when I asked him for five dollars. He replied "what makes you think I have five dollars to give you?" I said you work full-time and come home after work and go out on side jobs after dinner! He said well if that's the way I make my money, that's the way you're going to make yours, not get in the van.

My father and I worked together every summer into the night. We worked weekends ten hours or more Saturday and Sunday. He paid me one dollar an hour.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

/——/ It’s not the Government’s responsibility to provide healthcare. Just let the free market do I like 50 years ago.

It’s not the Government’s responsibility to provide healthcare. Just let the free market do I like 50 years ago.

It's the governments job to protect it's citizenry. Reagan nixed that by deregulating the bipartisan HMO Act.

Healthcare is not protecting the citizenry.

Healthcare is not protecting the citizenry.

By not getting screwed when paying for it, especially since healthcare in the US today is a capitalist racketeer company store monopoly.

Under that line of thinking, government should pay our house or rental insurance, our car insurance, life insurance, appliance, lawn and garden equipment insurance.

After all, according to you, the federal government is now constitutionally obligated so no American ever gets screwed. I would love to know where that clause is in the document.

Ray, people can get by without a car insurance , house and rental insurance, appliance, lawn and garden equipment insurance. Except for cars most do not have the other.

But life and quality of life as related to health is a need none of us can escape. I am happy for you that you believe you have covered that necessity for yourself and your family, but those limits have not yet been tested in your case. And should the day come, as I have personally seen, when after years of paying premiums, you have a stroke or cardiac difficulties and your insurer cuts you off, if you have a serious accident that requires long term care, and your coverage is limited, I pray Medicaid is there for you and you can live long enough the get an application approved. It is bare minimum, but helps when those insurers you counted on start with the excuses of good business management that you don't fit into anymore.

Well thank you very much, but the only point I was making is that medical insurance and medical care is not what I consider protecting the citizenry. And if it's ever considered that, then many things could fall under that category.

Currently I don't have any insurance. I've been insured my entire adult life until that big-eared creep got into the White House, and mind you I've been insured with serious preexisting conditions as well. My employer like so many others used that opportunity to get out of providing coverage for us. Commie Care is way too ridiculous for me to be able to afford that. It was designed for french fry makers and floor sweepers, or basically people that are likely to vote Democrat. But if you're a middle-income earner, F-U as far as Commie Care is concerned.

 

[Thinker101]

These statistics are claimed to be true:
1. 50% of American wage earners earn less than $30k.
2. 63% of Americans can’t afford a $1,000 emergency.
3. 80% of American workers live pay check to pay check.
4. Since 1973 American productivity has increased by 77%, yet hourly pay has grown by 12%. If the minimum wage was tracked to productivity, it would be over $20 an hour today.
5. 41% of American workers earn less than $12 per hour, with most without employer provided HC.
6. Since 2008 the federal government and the Fed created $26 trillion out of nothing. Was any of this enormous sum spent on infrastructure, public education, universal HC, bail out 5.1 million people who lost their homes?

Not a pretty picture for the poor and middle class. Hopefully things are improving or we are headed for big trouble.

Trump is doing his best to fix this..... the more democrats we vote out of office the better off these people will be......

That is why November is so important....democrats thrive on poverty, racism, hate and violence......

There's no proof trump is trying to fix things else you're talking about tax cuts for the rich and his other disgraceful policies.

No proof!? Dood, you have to get out and about more often.

You need to look stuff up before you type and make sure it's facts.

Why, does your trailer park have a web site?

 

[Marion Morrison]

The problem is colleges are doing nothing different than any other business. It's supply and demand. The more demand, the more expensive the supply.

The problem is Baby-Boomers f*cked up America, and keep coming up with more of the "Same Solutions" that "Caused the issues"

My generation is more educated, the productivity is up, the cost of getting educated is more, cost of healthcare is up, and yet we're making less money in comparison to your generation had.

If it's broken, you DO FIX IT, you don't break it more, and more.

Everyone SHOULD want better for their kids, just some are either too dumb, or too apathetic to do better for their kids.

So how do you "fix" the problem of high college costs, place a government limit on what they can charge?

What caused the problem is that manual labor has less value than it did before mostly because of automation. Because of that, kids can't get out of school and make a good enough living to buy a house and support a family. The only way to do that is to have a higher education.

The alternative to that is trade school. You won't make as much as somebody with a college degree and you may have to work with your hands, but you also don't have the college bills either.

Automation increases productivity, and thus more production, and therefor WEALTH created.

That wealth was never seen, because of Illegals, because of outsourcing, because of monopolies laying people off, and raising prices.

This is CRAPitalist America, and it's even worse than Soviet Russia.

At least in Soviet Russia they didn't funnel all the jobs into foreigners hands who despise them.

I don't see how we're not going to "NATURALLY" collapse in the near future, if we don't end up killing each other in the streets first, and therefor "ARTIFICIALLY" collapse.

I'm glad I'll be off this planet by then; at least out of the workforce. I wouldn't want to be a person in the future with no aptitude to earn a higher education and try to make it on manual labor alone.

Millennials earn 20% less than Babyboomers did at the same age, Millennials have a net-worth 50% less than Babyboomers did at the same age.
(Of course adjusting for inflation AKA Real Wages)

This is startling, and shows the system that we have isn't working.

It's not the system, it's the politicians. They voted themselves the keys to the country between Carter and Reagan. Notice the decline began around then, as did the price hike for medical care.


The system is fine, without crony capitalism.



Hang them sumbitches! All of them that voted to be above the law and immune from insider trading laws and legal "lobbying".


Lobbying is bribery and they are criminals subverting citizens' representation in government.

That's bullshit! Grr!

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

It's not the system, it's the politicians. They voted themselves the keys to the country between Carter and Reagan. Notice the decline began around then, as did the price hike for medical care.

This comment inspired me to tell a personal story.

Back in the early 80's I was a repairman for home medical equipment. At the time, UPS was on strike, and we were erecting a pharmacy for our home patients. We hired a pharmacist to oversee the construction because she was well versed on government requirements.

After our weekly Monday morning meeting, we do as we always did which was gather around the coffee pot in the warehouse. Somebody brought up the UPS strike, and our newest employee, the pharmacist, walked away abruptly without saying a word. We kind of looked at each other like "WTF did we say?"

As usual, I was the last person to leave the coffee area. She came back with her pharmacist magazine in her hand. She shoved it at me and demand I read the section she highlighted about the UPS strike.

What the article said is that the tenured UPS drivers made between 50 and 55K a year. A pharmacist made about 60 to 65. In anger she said "Do you know what I had to go through to become a pharmacist? Do you know what my parents had to go through? How in hell can these people be on strike earning that kind of money? If I had known this, I would be delivering packages here instead of doing all this shit! I'm the one that should be on strike--not them!"

Her point was well taken. How could we drag people into the medical field (at the time) when it paid better to work for the UAW, UPS, the steel mills, just a number of jobs that unions dominated at the time? There was only one way, and that was to increase wages for medical personnel. That's why a pharmacist today makes about 120K a year.

 

[gipper]

Not much to save at times.

When I think back to being a teen in the 70's, what did we have? We had a television set, a landline telephone, a stereo with an 8-track player. Most of us were one-car families and ate out about three of four times a year. Maybe went to the movies about eight or ten times a year.

What do we spend our money on today that we didn't have back then? Family cell phone plans with smart phones for every member of the family. Cable or satellite television with 400 stations. Three video game systems complete with game cartridges. Pay-per-view movie channels. Netflix. The internet. Big screen televisions. A car for every adult member in the family. Fast food restaurants a half-dozen times a week or more.

Do people realize how much money we would all have if we lived like we did in the 70's?

Amen and Amen. The problem is NOT low wages. The problem is attitude and mind set and basic values that determine what is really important.

I have lived paycheck to paycheck but we did live. The fact is most families can manage with one car, without smart phones, without cable TV that alone costs more per month than we had to live on when we first started out. You don't have to eat out and it is possible to eat quite well on very little money if you manage properly and don't require the fancier foods.

We didn't have credit cards back then but had layaway plans at Sears and J.C. Penney so whatever we took home was paid for. What few charge accounts existed were controlled by local merchants who got paid every month or they cancelled your credit so it was hard to get into serious trouble financially. I can recall how amazing it was when we got our first gas card making going on vacation simpler. But we paid for our very infrequent motel rooms with cash or travelers checks and wrote a check for each of our monthly bills and purchases.

The government did absolutely nothing for us for day to day needs and expenses and we didn't expect it to. Many many of us started out dirt poor, but nobody stayed poor indefinitely because we expected to do what was necessary to achieve and improve our standard of living and everybody did.

What we need is one huge national attitude adjustment instead of living on the edge and then expecting the government to fix everything for us.

That is the problem. The government does very little for the middle class and poor, but they do a shit load for the extreme wealthy.

It is a racket the Mafia can only dream of.

The government has spent trillions of dollars on the poor and the government would not have those trillions of dollars to spend on the poor without those 'extremely wealthy.' However, the more trillions we spend on the poor, the more 'poor' we seem to have with us, and we have many more people who are now entrenched in poverty and training subsequent generations to live in poverty.

Benjamin Franklin once wisely observed after extensive travel to other lands:
“I am for doing good to the poor, but...I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed...that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.”

The Founders to a man believed the central government should not be in the business of any form of charity but rather should facilitate individual freedom and ability to take initiative as the best policy to encourage prosperity for all. The Constitution gives the government absolutely no authority to take money from those who earn it and give it to those who do not. That is how it was intended so that excess authority--dictatorship--would not be given to the central government.

True but not so much after the Grest Recession. While the wealthy pay most of the tax, they also get most of the benefits.

I am not seeing that. The wealthy don't qualify for earned income credit, SNAP, and more often than not pay taxes on a much larger percentage of their income than those of the middle class who pay taxes. Roughly 50% of wage earners pay little or nothing in taxes. You can't tell me the wealthy get much advantage, let along most of the advantages.

Did you read my OP? The government enriches the extreme wealthy with all sorts of goodies and sweet heart deal. It is the American Way.

 

[Cellblock2429]

These statistics are claimed to be true:
1. 50% of American wage earners earn less than $30k.
2. 63% of Americans can’t afford a $1,000 emergency.
3. 80% of American workers live pay check to pay check.
4. Since 1973 American productivity has increased by 77%, yet hourly pay has grown by 12%. If the minimum wage was tracked to productivity, it would be over $20 an hour today.
5. 41% of American workers earn less than $12 per hour, with most without employer provided HC.
6. Since 2008 the federal government and the Fed created $26 trillion out of nothing. Was any of this enormous sum spent on infrastructure, public education, universal HC, bail out 5.1 million people who lost their homes?

Not a pretty picture for the poor and middle class. Hopefully things are improving or we are headed for big trouble.

Trump is doing his best to fix this..... the more democrats we vote out of office the better off these people will be......

That is why November is so important....democrats thrive on poverty, racism, hate and violence......

There's no proof trump is trying to fix things else you're talking about tax cuts for the rich and his other disgraceful policies.

No proof!? Dood, you have to get out and about more often.

You need to look stuff up before you type and make sure it's facts.

Why, does your trailer park have a web site?

/——/ Here’s some proof: A chart shows how everything has changed since Trump became president

 

[Correll]

Idk, but the price of housing for most people is way inflated. People are paying twice as much for housing as they used to, and that's not right.

Don't get me started on the grocery portion-reduction thing..

Ain't that the truth!!!

my tomato sauce jar went from 24oz down to 20 ounces down to now a 16 ounce jar, price even went up....

a gallon ice cream carton is now a quart shy..... plus they added a bunch of air to it to make it appear bigger....

I can't even get tomato sauce.

This is bad, because it's used in 5 recipes that I know and grew up with.

They don't even have it at the store. At least not the closest one.

Things that were always around and aren't now:

1 lb of bacon

Tomato sauce


Every can of it in my pantry is dried out.

Trump is doing his best to fix this..... the more democrats we vote out of office the better off these people will be......

That is why November is so important....democrats thrive on poverty, racism, hate and violence......

How so? What have republicans done to fix this?
From where I'm sitting personally, one thousand dollars means very little. It's just something that happens.

Try facing the facts of what happens to hundreds of thousands of working people.

The economy is now going great, unemployment is down, job opportunites are up, and even for Black and Hispanics in America unemployment is down at historic levels.....

You don't know what you are talking about.

wages are stagnant. they have been for decades & that temporary tax cut that worker bees got will be eaten up by the rising costs of everything that is needed to have a comfy lifestyle. you know, food, gas, medical care.... & the permanent cuts that bigcorp received has done more for their pockets than yours. the vast majority went to stock buybacks. oooOOOOOOooo... some nice little PR bonus' were dolled out... but a one time bonus does not equate to an actual raise.

to qualify for a mortgage, on my first home, 1 week's income had to pay for your mortgage payment & property tax...

This certainly is not the case anymore!

Agreed. YOu're not getting that without a fight.


How many people you willing to kill to get your utopia, Tehon?

I'm willing to die to preserve the American way of life. True story.


One difference between Communists and Americans in America, is that Americans grew up shooting and probably have grandpappy's gun.
s.

I agree, and most communists know that when communists take over, a lot of people have to die.


Tehon. HOw many people do you think would die, once the communists take over?

You guys are fantasizing. You paste a fake label of communist on people without thinking what you are doing, then fantasize acting upon it...with guns. If that ain't MOB RULE, I don't know what is.

Some of you people make me laugh, you really do, lol.

The more you have of something, or the less you have of something, causes the price of it to rise? Economics 101 folks-)

So then, if the CORRECT answer is---------->the LESS we have of something, the pricier it gets, then do you believe the MORE labor we have available, or the LESS labor we have available, would cause employee compensation to rise?

Ok then, follow me now----------> If using economics 101 again means the answer is LESS labor, then should we NOT keep illegal immigration at bay to FORCE a shortage of labor?

FACT-------> No PRESIDENT of either party can create policies that will allow the creation of jobs fast enough for the USA, and South America; unless of course, that President can create policies for all the other country's, which he can NOT! That is EXACTLY why NAFTA failed! Sure, the other country's GLADLY took our production side from us, but their citizens were NOT free enough to become mass consumers. It was EXACTLY those country's socialistic policies, that held back consumerism.

So what does that mean?

It means we basically gave away some of our needed production demand, for no rise in consumer demand to replace it! IT WAS A HORSESHIT DEAL, with a perceived political, Pollyanna outcome that never materialized.

Back on point----------> under economics 101, if we want wages to RISE without injecting government, we MUST keep control of workers that we can control...……...like illegal immigrants...…… to force a shortage, in essence forcing wages up.

Now then, which party is MOST likely to do this, and you can answer your own question!

But we are running at FULL EMPLOYMENT, where are the BIG income increases for the lower 70% of American workers?

That's a very good question. Are you serious about it? Or is it just something you throw out there without thought?

 

[Marion Morrison]

Idk, but the price of housing for most people is way inflated. People are paying twice as much for housing as they used to, and that's not right.

Don't get me started on the grocery portion-reduction thing..

Ain't that the truth!!!

my tomato sauce jar went from 24oz down to 20 ounces down to now a 16 ounce jar, price even went up....

a gallon ice cream carton is now a quart shy..... plus they added a bunch of air to it to make it appear bigger....

I can't even get tomato sauce.

This is bad, because it's used in 5 recipes that I know and grew up with.

They don't even have it at the store. At least not the closest one.

Things that were always around and aren't now:

1 lb of bacon

Tomato sauce


Every can of it in my pantry is dried out.

How so? What have republicans done to fix this?
From where I'm sitting personally, one thousand dollars means very little. It's just something that happens.

Try facing the facts of what happens to hundreds of thousands of working people.

The economy is now going great, unemployment is down, job opportunites are up, and even for Black and Hispanics in America unemployment is down at historic levels.....

You don't know what you are talking about.

wages are stagnant. they have been for decades & that temporary tax cut that worker bees got will be eaten up by the rising costs of everything that is needed to have a comfy lifestyle. you know, food, gas, medical care.... & the permanent cuts that bigcorp received has done more for their pockets than yours. the vast majority went to stock buybacks. oooOOOOOOooo... some nice little PR bonus' were dolled out... but a one time bonus does not equate to an actual raise.

to qualify for a mortgage, on my first home, 1 week's income had to pay for your mortgage payment & property tax...

This certainly is not the case anymore!

I'm willing to die to preserve the American way of life. True story.


One difference between Communists and Americans in America, is that Americans grew up shooting and probably have grandpappy's gun.
s.

I agree, and most communists know that when communists take over, a lot of people have to die.


Tehon. HOw many people do you think would die, once the communists take over?

You guys are fantasizing. You paste a fake label of communist on people without thinking what you are doing, then fantasize acting upon it...with guns. If that ain't MOB RULE, I don't know what is.

Some of you people make me laugh, you really do, lol.

The more you have of something, or the less you have of something, causes the price of it to rise? Economics 101 folks-)

So then, if the CORRECT answer is---------->the LESS we have of something, the pricier it gets, then do you believe the MORE labor we have available, or the LESS labor we have available, would cause employee compensation to rise?

Ok then, follow me now----------> If using economics 101 again means the answer is LESS labor, then should we NOT keep illegal immigration at bay to FORCE a shortage of labor?

FACT-------> No PRESIDENT of either party can create policies that will allow the creation of jobs fast enough for the USA, and South America; unless of course, that President can create policies for all the other country's, which he can NOT! That is EXACTLY why NAFTA failed! Sure, the other country's GLADLY took our production side from us, but their citizens were NOT free enough to become mass consumers. It was EXACTLY those country's socialistic policies, that held back consumerism.

So what does that mean?

It means we basically gave away some of our needed production demand, for no rise in consumer demand to replace it! IT WAS A HORSESHIT DEAL, with a perceived political, Pollyanna outcome that never materialized.

Back on point----------> under economics 101, if we want wages to RISE without injecting government, we MUST keep control of workers that we can control...……...like illegal immigrants...…… to force a shortage, in essence forcing wages up.

Now then, which party is MOST likely to do this, and you can answer your own question!

But we are running at FULL EMPLOYMENT, where are the BIG income increases for the lower 70% of American workers?

That's a very good question. Are you serious about it? Or is it just something you throw out there without thought?

It will have to happen.

 

[sparky]

Under that line of thinking, government should pay our house or rental insurance, our car insurance, life insurance, appliance, lawn and garden equipment insurance.

regulate....not pay ...big dif Ray

After all, according to you, the federal government is now constitutionally obligated so no American ever gets screwed. I would love to know where that clause is in the document.

General welfare clause - Wikipedia

But we are running at FULL EMPLOYMENT, where are the BIG income increases for the lower 70% of American workers?

In the 1%er's coffers....

You haven't said how it is that they are raping you.

Do you think that you should be in control of all of that?

we're being told so....

The Chamber of Commerce wants them to keep coming for cheap labor.......and increased profits.......This was made even clearer when the Koch Brothers were recently demanding more Amnesty and migrant labor or threatening to stop paying politicians.

I am not seeing that.

I worked 2 jobs AND volunteered 24 hrs per week on an ambulance, no days off, and on the rigs, not even holidays off

30 yrs brother.....lot of stuff i'm looking to forget!

The system is fine, without crony capitalism.

The government enriches the extreme wealthy with all sorts of goodies and sweet heart deal. It is the American Way.

/——/ Here’s some proof: A chart shows how everything has changed since Trump became president

 

[Skull Pilot]

These statistics are claimed to be true:
1. 50% of American wage earners earn less than $30k.
2. 63% of Americans can’t afford a $1,000 emergency.
3. 80% of American workers live pay check to pay check.
4. Since 1973 American productivity has increased by 77%, yet hourly pay has grown by 12%. If the minimum wage was tracked to productivity, it would be over $20 an hour today.
5. 41% of American workers earn less than $12 per hour, with most without employer provided HC.
6. Since 2008 the federal government and the Fed created $26 trillion out of nothing. Was any of this enormous sum spent on infrastructure, public education, universal HC, bail out 5.1 million people who lost their homes?

Not a pretty picture for the poor and middle class. Hopefully things are improving or we are headed for big trouble.

This stuff has been true for a long time

Americans do not save
Do not like to save

Yeah it is all the fault of poor and middle class. Government, establishment, political parties, capitalism, the ruling class are blameless.

LMFAO!

The government establishment, political parties, capitalism, the ruling class never made me spend more than I make
The government establishment, political parties, capitalism, the ruling class never stopped me from saving money

Stop blaming everyone else for your failures

 

[Skull Pilot]

These statistics are claimed to be true:
1. 50% of American wage earners earn less than $30k.
2. 63% of Americans can’t afford a $1,000 emergency.
3. 80% of American workers live pay check to pay check.
4. Since 1973 American productivity has increased by 77%, yet hourly pay has grown by 12%. If the minimum wage was tracked to productivity, it would be over $20 an hour today.
5. 41% of American workers earn less than $12 per hour, with most without employer provided HC.
6. Since 2008 the federal government and the Fed created $26 trillion out of nothing. Was any of this enormous sum spent on infrastructure, public education, universal HC, bail out 5.1 million people who lost their homes?

Not a pretty picture for the poor and middle class. Hopefully things are improving or we are headed for big trouble.

This stuff has been true for a long time

Americans do not save
Do not like to save

How can one possibly save with earnings at such a low level?
Our economy has been propped up by consumer debt for so long that any discretionary income goes to interest payments.

Funny how I always managed to save a little every week.

It's not hard to spend less than you make and of you don't make enough to pay your bills you have 2 options, earn more ( get a second job) and/or reduce your expenses.

 

[Correll]

These statistics are claimed to be true:
1. 50% of American wage earners earn less than $30k.
2. 63% of Americans can’t afford a $1,000 emergency.
3. 80% of American workers live pay check to pay check.
4. Since 1973 American productivity has increased by 77%, yet hourly pay has grown by 12%. If the minimum wage was tracked to productivity, it would be over $20 an hour today.
5. 41% of American workers earn less than $12 per hour, with most without employer provided HC.
6. Since 2008 the federal government and the Fed created $26 trillion out of nothing. Was any of this enormous sum spent on infrastructure, public education, universal HC, bail out 5.1 million people who lost their homes?

Not a pretty picture for the poor and middle class. Hopefully things are improving or we are headed for big trouble.

This stuff has been true for a long time

Americans do not save
Do not like to save

Yeah it is all the fault of poor and middle class. Government, establishment, political parties, capitalism, the ruling class are blameless.

LMFAO!

The government establishment, political parties, capitalism, the ruling class never made me spend more than I make
The government establishment, political parties, capitalism, the ruling class never stopped me from saving money

Stop blaming everyone else for your failures

Ok.

1. The ruling class certainly bares responsibility for a number of crappy polities that have made saving harder.

2. Americans are too consumerist and spend to much and save too little.

3. I believe that most number's whining about Americans' poor savings, often don't track 401k, nor pensions.

4. Banks and credit cards are far too predatory and need to be regulated to stop that shit.

 

[Skull Pilot]

These statistics are claimed to be true:
1. 50% of American wage earners earn less than $30k.
2. 63% of Americans can’t afford a $1,000 emergency.
3. 80% of American workers live pay check to pay check.
4. Since 1973 American productivity has increased by 77%, yet hourly pay has grown by 12%. If the minimum wage was tracked to productivity, it would be over $20 an hour today.
5. 41% of American workers earn less than $12 per hour, with most without employer provided HC.
6. Since 2008 the federal government and the Fed created $26 trillion out of nothing. Was any of this enormous sum spent on infrastructure, public education, universal HC, bail out 5.1 million people who lost their homes?

Not a pretty picture for the poor and middle class. Hopefully things are improving or we are headed for big trouble.

This stuff has been true for a long time

Americans do not save
Do not like to save

Not much to save at times.

When I think back to being a teen in the 70's, what did we have? We had a television set, a landline telephone, a stereo with an 8-track player. Most of us were one-car families and ate out about three of four times a year. Maybe went to the movies about eight or ten times a year.

What do we spend our money on today that we didn't have back then? Family cell phone plans with smart phones for every member of the family. Cable or satellite television with 400 stations. Three video game systems complete with game cartridges. Pay-per-view movie channels. Netflix. The internet. Big screen televisions. A car for every adult member in the family. Fast food restaurants a half-dozen times a week or more.

Do people realize how much money we would all have if we lived like we did in the 70's?

I see our employees order out lunch every day. They almost always walk in with a coffee and something to eat from a coffee shop
They suck down 3 or 4 of those Monster drinks at $3 each, make Dunkin coffee runs every afternoon even though I always have coffee they can drink for free

Not to mention they all seem to change cell phones every few months. I've had the same phone for 5 years now.

I still bring my lunch to work every day. I eat my sandwich and a cup of soup or leftovers from supper at my desk and they order pizza, Thai food etc every day

After 10 years of offering a 401 k I just this year got everyone to finally opt in and I match up to 4%

I started saving when I was a kid and I just liked seeing my savings balance increase more than I likes spending

 

[Correll]

These statistics are claimed to be true:
1. 50% of American wage earners earn less than $30k.
2. 63% of Americans can’t afford a $1,000 emergency.
3. 80% of American workers live pay check to pay check.
4. Since 1973 American productivity has increased by 77%, yet hourly pay has grown by 12%. If the minimum wage was tracked to productivity, it would be over $20 an hour today.
5. 41% of American workers earn less than $12 per hour, with most without employer provided HC.
6. Since 2008 the federal government and the Fed created $26 trillion out of nothing. Was any of this enormous sum spent on infrastructure, public education, universal HC, bail out 5.1 million people who lost their homes?

Not a pretty picture for the poor and middle class. Hopefully things are improving or we are headed for big trouble.

This stuff has been true for a long time

Americans do not save
Do not like to save

Not much to save at times.

When I think back to being a teen in the 70's, what did we have? We had a television set, a landline telephone, a stereo with an 8-track player. Most of us were one-car families and ate out about three of four times a year. Maybe went to the movies about eight or ten times a year.

What do we spend our money on today that we didn't have back then? Family cell phone plans with smart phones for every member of the family. Cable or satellite television with 400 stations. Three video game systems complete with game cartridges. Pay-per-view movie channels. Netflix. The internet. Big screen televisions. A car for every adult member in the family. Fast food restaurants a half-dozen times a week or more.

Do people realize how much money we would all have if we lived like we did in the 70's?

I see our employees order out lunch every day. They almost always walk in with a coffee and something to eat from a coffee shop
They suck down 3 or 4 of those Monster drinks at $3 each, make Dunkin coffee runs every afternoon even though I always have coffee they can drink for free

Not to mention they all seem to change cell phones every few months. I've had the same phone for 5 years now.

I still bring my lunch to work every day. I eat my sandwich and a cup of soup or leftovers from supper at my desk and they order pizza, Thai food etc every day

After 10 years of offering a 401 k I just this year got everyone to finally opt in and I match up to 4%

I started saving when I was a kid and I just liked seeing my savings balance increase more than I likes spending

I've seen the same. Hell, I have to fight those spending habits myself. (mostly successfully)