Tarriffs are just a symptom of a much larger problem for the middle class.

[Raynine]

I’ve been thinking about tariffs. It is interesting that until Donald Trump no one was bringing up the fact that US politicians get rich by inviting other countries to screw the American people by charging huge tariffs on goods made in America while the US charges tiny tariffs on goods made in foreign countries. No wonder all those industries located overseas depriving Americans of decent paying jobs, pensions, and affordable industrial healthcare. Those politicians have been lining their pockets at the expense of the US middle class that has been shrinking since NAFTA et al. I voted for Ross Perot in the 90’s and so did many others to stop the scam on the American people but he did not win.

Now at last, we have a president who speaks for average Americans and is exposing the government corruption that is so widespread that it appears to be permanently embedded in Washington politics. The tariffs are just a symptom of corruption. This has been a long time coming and if they do not assassinate Trump or Musk Americans can look forward to a new age where the middle class will grow and prosper. Trump is going to make America great again by lifting the middle class back to where it belongs.

 

[Dekster]

I’ve been thinking about tariffs. It is interesting that until Donald Trump no one was bringing up the fact that US politicians get rich by inviting other countries to screw the American people by charging huge tariffs on goods made in America while the US charges tiny tariffs on goods made in foreign countries. No wonder all those industries located overseas depriving Americans of decent paying jobs, pensions, and affordable industrial healthcare. Those politicians have been lining their pockets at the expense of the US middle class that has been shrinking since NAFTA et al. I voted for Ross Perot in the 90’s and so did many others to stop the scam on the American people but he did not win.

Now at last, we have a president who speaks for average Americans and is exposing the government corruption that is so widespread that it appears to be permanently embedded in Washington politics. The tariffs are just a symptom of corruption. This has been a long time coming and if they do not assassinate Trump or Musk Americans can look forward to a new age where the middle class will grow and prosper. Trump is going to make America great again by lifting the middle class back to where it belongs.

Either the rich get richer or the middle class loses their sweet 401K returns.

 

[Raynine]

Either the rich get richer or the middle class loses their sweet 401K returns.

I have been working since 1962. I get three pensions plus Social Security. Those pensions all disappeared for you and others. Companies once offered pensions to guarantee employee loyalty but now no one cares about that because those companies all went across oceans. Pensions are not like a 401k. A 401k is a lottery ticket.

 

[Dekster]

I have been working since 1962. I get three pensions plus Social Security. Those pensions all disappeared for you and others. Companies once offered pensions to guarantee employee loyalty but now no one cares about that because those companies all went across oceans. Pensions are not like a 401k. A 401k is a lottery ticket.

Well for a lot of people pensions really were like a lottery ticket which is in part why they went away----the never were properly funded. It was why the government created the PBGC I think. Either way, I would submit that 401K's and IRA's are a big reason the rich started getting so much richer since the early 80's when those started to really take hold and why the middle class started to narrow. Part of it, however, is because those contributions are generally shielded from "income" but part of it is that the weekly infusion of new cash into a market chasing largely the same used stocks for the better part of 40 years has inflated the market and the wealthy's "wealth".