Only a couple of items on the list this morning (as having redeeming social value and economic exploits open to all: The story about Personal Income and (nicely dovetailing) the Employment Cost Index.
A couple of data-backed axioms about money first, though:
- You can only spend it once.
- The US dollar is debt-saturated. What cost $100 last year (2021) cost $3.65 in 1914 when the Banksters stole America’s money.
- There is one way to stop Inflation. From this we know that stated convertibility (or paper to metals, for example) is the ONLY way to stop rampant, world-wrecking, global inflation. (Ever here the money-changer story?)
- Prices do NOT go up. The purchasing power of money goes down. Then it seems to take more. What’s been inserted is digital “theft.” Done with digits or processors doesn’t matter a whit.
- America’s Lifestyle Quality is now NEGATIVE. Peak lifestyle occurred in 1964, or so. Hadn’t gone into national war mode, one income earner could support a family AND own a home AND do it all in 40-hours a week.
- Biden is screwing the country promoting illegal immigration. Promoting by revoking Title 42. Screwing, because all the 20-teens immigration to Europe did was install a new religion for some minimal economic stimulus. Crooked accounting runs in that leadership family.
OK, with the rose-colored glasses off, one last Reality before we sail on a sea of government spew: Statista has a dandy one: Chart: Is Life Better Or Worse Than 50 Years Ago? | Statista
The ass-kicker in it is when asked have we made things better in the last 50-years?
This compares with Vietnam where only 5 percent of people thought things were better than today. Being in the midst of the War in Vietnam, though, what were you thinking?
Flip side of that with Italy, where the Statista says today 50 percent thought things were better 50 years ago, only 23 percent thought better today. Not that this should surprise you either; getting in (financial and power-sharing) bed with the Megalomaniacal European Union could have no other outcome. Layers of bureaucratic bullshit are like that.
NOW – at long last – We’re ready for a swig (that is coffee, right?) and the latest chapter in the…
American Fairytale
My buddy the Major built a home about 38 years ago. Modest, suburban home in a great area well-away from the Seattle Crazies. Just got his property tax update and his home is valued at almost 8-times its original cost.
Same neighborhood, same HOA. Well, milk was $1,17 a gallon while gas was $1.31 a gallon.
It’s pretty clear when we talk, that neither he, nor I, have seen much economic change in our 70-year friendship. Maybe that’s OK, we both have government retirements from .mil and/or SSA.gov. Trade-off.
But the point I get to is how the happy-talk government stats is that half a century on, neither the Major or me has become filthy rich. Who HAS gotten rich? Credit Card companies, Computer companies, Cell phone companies, highly processed food companies, developers, government retirement programs, and oh-yeah – illegal border jumpers. Shall we toss in 13 new genders and climate change monetizer’s, too?
That – from age 73 – is the long-term perspective on Quality of Life.
On a God is Laughing at Us note: Not only are we more polarized than ever, but the gap between the Haves and Have-Not’s is deepening.
The Rich have gotten richer. The Poor poorer.
The government “swindle” here is simple: If the Rich are getting Richer around the same rate as the Poor are getting poorer, then we must be averaging about the same.
“Personal income increased $107.2 billion, or 0.5 percent at a monthly rate, while consumer spending increased $185.0 billion, or 1.1 percent, in March. The increase in personal income primarily reflected an increase in compensation. The personal saving rate (that is, personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income) was 6.2 percent in March, compared with 6.8 percent in February.”
Laughable part here: Incomes were up half a percent while spending was up how much? 1.1 percent? So, help me God, people are stupid (statistically, nothing personal) incomes up a half and spending more than double that. And we wonder why America is being renamed Loserville globally.
Employment Cost Index
As chance would have it, the Labor Employment Cost Data is also just out this morning. At least (in theory) the ECI should roughly track personal income, let’s lookie here and see what the ECI worked out.
“Compensation costs for civilian workers increased 1.4 percent, seasonally adjusted, for the 3-month period ending in March 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wages and salaries
increased 1.2 percent and benefit costs increased 1.8 percent from December 2021.
Compensation costs for civilian workers increased 4.5 percent for the 12-month period ending in March 2022 and increased 2.6 percent in March 2021. Wages and salaries increased 4.7 percent for the 12-month period ending in March 2022 and increased 2.7 percent for the 12-month period ending in March 2021. Benefit costs increased 4.1 percent over the year and increased 2.5 percent for the 12-month period ending in March 2021.”
OK, now the conclusion:
Personal Income was up this month 0,5%.
The Employment Cost Index was up 1.4% for the month.
Someone has our money and it ain’t us. It’s been turned into debt and yoked back on us through inflationary thievery.
Which is why a market decline ahead of Wednesday is an interesting bet. Nothing like a market drop to “lobby the Fed” to hold in here on rates.
Biden Channeling Goebbels
Yes, that’s right. Slow Joe is playing the Josef Goebbels’ Nazi media control card. This as Democrats (who used language comparing Goebbels when they tried to stick the label on Trump) are now in an embarrassing position (if they had any shame) being double-standard self-wanking wokees: Elon Musk slams Biden’s ‘discomforting’ ‘Disinformation Governance Board’ on Twitter.
Free speech for Marxists, the gender-lost, and the democrat Victim Pool, please.
Biden has thus managed to cross the line from Traitorous to Coup-leading by attempting to selectively revoke your Constitutional rights.
Bait and switch Bubba: Not Jan. 6. NOW – right freaking now.
Richly: Burnt-out Sanders is now channeling Jimmy Hoffa, maybe? Or Dave Beck? Bernie Sanders Wants Democrats to Make Unions Their Biggest Message. The reason is the woke Marxist bullshit ain’t playing with normy’s. Bernie the Bait Switcher and the herd of Marxist simplthizers.
Things to Be on Top Of
Who has told you this for how long? Is crypto just one big Ponzi scheme? Well, of course. There are no barriers to entry for non-products, right? Depends what you think of made-up numbers and storytellers, I guess. Said the guy who never owned a wallet.
Get while the getting’s good? Investor Who Called Housing Top and Bottom Says It’s Time to Sell.
Extra Dry Out West: Lake Mead water valve is exposed for the first time amid historic drought. If you’re a little slow, try this:
As we told you, when we put in our Garden Grow Room: Rain barrels
100-gallons may not sound like much, but it really does last a month – and it’s like getting free water…
Meanwhile, if you aren’t making at least some minimal effort on gardening SOMETHING (hell, anything) locally, you’re too dumb to hang at this site.
Around the Ranch: Ahead
Fed meeting next week is likely to weigh on markets.
Fajita Friday here in the Outback tonight.
Fish Fry Saturday up at the Elmwood Volunteer Fire Department this weekend.
New Book is in outlining stages – will debut (outline and maybe a few chapters) on Peoplenomics next Wed. Hint: QOL and Pomodoro’s.
May 7-11 is Ukraine escalation risk window.
Market futures looked at the economic gibbersheet with little change.
Got rain coming in tonight (drought resistance luck here!) and continuing to Tuesday. How to rescue an aging ladder on ShopTalk Sunday…
Write when you get rich,
George@Ure.net
“Get while the getting’s good? ”
I’m looking at a fixer-upper commercial building this weekend. Sell the house, buy and fix this building.
The building is gutted right now and has space for at least four apartments (maybe six), has the street-level commercial w/mezzanine plus a full basement.
I think it’s a good trade for this house.
Jeez, with you guys it’s always something.
Yep, nothing’s better, everything’s worse. Life sucks. Government stats are a lie, but you quote ’em anyway.
Oh well. You gotta have something to talk about while repacking your wheel bearings and adjusting your brakes, hoping the jalopy will make it to 100k.
Where in the real world would you rather have been the last 50 years?
HYPOCRITE-Brittanica
(noun) HYPOCRITE: a person who claims or pretends to have certain beliefs about what is right but who behaves in a way that disagrees with those beliefs.
Why is Joe Biden eliminating Title 42 provisions thereby implying that all the estimated 2.2 million invaders at the southern border this year DO NOT have Covid, but he continues to state that airline travelers should wear a mask on airlines to protect against Covid?
Mumbling Lying Joe Biden= HYPOCRITE
Matthew 23:27-28
27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
Got it Hypocrite Wicked Joe?
Another source of water is A/C condensate. I save ours from the drain and the dehumidifier to use on plants and other uses where minerals from well water is undesirable.
We also save the room dehumidifier liquid for battery water…
“… if you aren’t making at least some minimal effort on gardening SOMETHING….”
We’ve got one lone tomato plant that was gifted to us which seems to be doing well. Thought long and hard about a garden this year but I’m putting so much effort into keeping the livestock alive while doing upkeep on things I just couldn’t bring myself to it. No one else in the family is hungry enough yet to start one either on their place or ours so I’m just stockpiling common heirloom seeds. Nothing fancy. The drought gets worse every day here in the Western half of the state and doesn’t look like it will let up this year. The only satisfaction I get out of it is hearing those that put houses out here on the edge of the Chihuahua desert and use water like they’re in town next to a lake gripe and fret that their faucets are about to go dry.
Ma Nature is a b*tch to those that put money before Her. I love Her dearly for that reason and all the other lessons She teaches every day. Work with Her and she’ll keep you going with extras. Work against her and, eventually, She’ll impose the “Ashes to ashes” routine on you.
If it is by itself, get a couple of real soft watercolor bruishes and read up on manual pollinizations. I do that as a backup to the stinging review crowd
On your rain barrels. Nicely done indoor installation.
I have some IBC totes set up around the ranch for rainwater collection that have been painted to retard the algae growth. The boss has informed me that they are looking rather “crappy”, her word, and has instructed that they be repainted or covered with something nicer to look at. I answered, Your choices are the brown used on the barn and shop building or the grey used for the house. She answered, Eww, no. Can’t you just wrap something around them? I answered as I egressed the back door rapidly, How about with that new Gawd awful jungle print shower curtain in the master bath?
High tactical alert is recommended during my return this afternoon.
Stay safe. 73
Ugh! Paint ’em earthy, they’re candidates for stray bullets; paint ’em bright, they’re candidates for aimed bullets…
I had no idea those things were THAT expensive. I think I paid $5 each for mine. They DO come up in salvage auctions occasionally…
It stuns me to think we (humans) may be stumbling backwards, drunkenly, incrementally, into an actual Nuclear Exchange.
I grew up (I’m old now) during the black & white 1950s and 1960’s. (My memories seem to be in black & white — drained of color…)
I was one of those kids who heard Yertle the Turtle tell us to “duck & cover” under our tiny desks. Later, many of us became Beatniks and Hippies, I suppose as a reaction to living on the edge of destruction, and not really understanding what that really meant. The adults didn’t protect us from fear –they sold it wholesale to us. Made us institutionally neurotic — like the mask-fear does to kids now.
Now, here we (humans) are — seemingly seriously thinking about what we (America) should do if Pooty Pops a Nuke in Ukraine.
Do we do nothing as Pooty takes our lunch money? Do we (America) Field-Tac Nuke something of his in Uke? (Just a little one.)
What happens after that candy-ass, half-ass “measured” response?
Do we (America) send a GPS cruise missile through his bedroom window at 2am? (My personal fave if I had the Red Telephone.)
Do we (America) Massively (and peremptorily) blast Russia into rubble? (Seems a bit too much at that specific point…)
Do we send him TEN Field-Tac Nukes in-theatre?
Do we wait for 6,000 incoming ICBMs coming over the pole, and THEN launch it all to blast Russia to rubble before they hit? (No time to talk. Everybody dies: civilization ends.)
Will this civilization end in a paroxysm of suicidal global madness?
That’s what we’re (humans) fucking with.
…better get this one right.
“…better get this one right.”
Wrong Administration for this to happen, except by chance. Also wrong Administration in France, Germany, and the UK (BJ threatened to preemptively and unilaterally nuke Russia a few days ago. I’m guessing that’s not a wise move, from a diplomatic standpoint…)
BTW, rumor has it Mr. Putin may have cancer. This should scare the hell out of every thinking person on the planet…
“BTW, rumor has it Mr. Putin may have cancer. This should scare the hell out of every thinking person on the planet…”
Exactly..
and no one is leaving the backdoor open for any of it to de-escalate.. and now.. threatening China.. to..
Chill Man, chill.
Nobody cares about living anymore, give me a f-ing break! Life is getting cheaper by the day it seems. As though the majority of the worlds population are just dying to push up some daisey’s(letsgobrandon!)
The deathcultz Rule planet Earth at present time..Death & Dying – this is the big Trend – see Georgia Guidestones/Deagle.
Get in dc business early and you makey some big deinero (CBDC’s).
Dont wakey and bakey to the fact that the majority of all “human resources” have been practicing members of a pedophilic, canabalistic, death cult or another for ages-brainwashed as it were by upsidedown-roman catholic church, and her “backwards” offshoots.
..wonder why they ALL require Faith and Belief in a “alien” savior.
No worries hypocrites – give coot some cashish and coot will “forgive” U of all Ure “sins”.- ALL of them ! I promise, give you my word..bwahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahah
In the everything is FAKE world – what is Sin ? who made that word up ? why? CONTROL/CONTROL/CONTROL.
Why is SEX bad ? Why are we afraid of our NAKED bodies ? Why they want you to feel INADQUATE about a NON PERFECT barbie body?
Of being seen NAKED ? Its bad ?????!!!!!??? ..ITS POWER, Its NRG – the likes of which two consenting adults can open dimensional Portals…just by thinking and acting Together..
– F-ING bullshit! There is NO SUCH THING AS SIN . Look around Ure world – biggest “sinnerz” are REWARDED-EnRiched.
We can still grow up – before the next curtain comes down. Virtue Is the Foundation, as Divinity is the Will of All.
No sin, no forgivness in the ever expanding NOW- Ure “light level” Is What It Is- no matta what, but “It” still has time to grow.
Now what was that about a America of bank going lehmans over a financial clif?
No worries – just keep sitting on Ure assz waiting for uncle kluas and his diabolical henchmen at the Bank of International Slavery – true name, black humour=favorite of the KM types..see Josephus and Ure Bible – a very black comedy…
btw – how U all like my white wig and disguise ?
I enjoyed that, thoroughly.
Oh, and love the alabaster wig…
George, there’s a been a few things that you have written in the last couple of weeks that I had mulling over in my head within the same general time frame. Sometimes these things, like songs, are out there in the air and people with a properly tuned antenna can pick them up when they hold their mouth just right. Your dream that you recounted in PN Wednesday was another one. I almost wrote you an email about that, but things have been busy and I didn’t get to it.
So, that brings me to: “Peak lifestyle occurred in 1964, or so.”
This is a theme I think we’ve all thought about recently, but it really hit home the other night when the missus and I watched this documentary from the National Archives on the building of the Boulder Dam. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSMDPzd11ek
It’s a fantastic video and it is truly amazing what was accomplished in such a short amount of time. It also caused me to feel pretty sad because there is NO WAY this country could accomplish an engineering feat of that magnitude today. Hell, the Corps of Engineers can barely manage a contract to pour a sidewalk. Trust me. I know.
All that led me to spend some time thinking about the history of this country, where we are now and where we’re headed. I came to the conclusion that in terms of being the best we could possibly be in terms of lifestyle, capability, potential and personal buy-in from the average citizen. I decided that we topped out in the mid 1960’s with the Apollo program. After that, the moral and political foundation was beginning to erode (through enemy action, imo) and now we’re at the point of massive systemic failure that has metastasized to the rest of western civ. It’s literally too complex to save or fix without deity-level intervention.
There are some simple things that bring me some peace in this version of the matrix and one of those is making music. I’ve been a picker and strummer for many decades and that brings to me to one of my favorite songs to play and sing. It’s appropriate for this discussion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxLtXJzo3Ew
Yes, Merle, I’m afraid they are.
Merle,
Put down the razor blade. Fords and Chevy’s DO last ten years, like they should.
Lol lol lol.. omg…lol lol
The bad thing is they aren’t made the way they were.. seats are cheaper can’t put a passenger in the back seat..it’s just there for looks..the motors and all components are made someplace else..
I judge a car by the way its designed. Go in sit in the back and have the salesman do the driving.. if the salesman is obnoxious then I have him sit in the back.. disclosure laws are only for the dealer not the buyer..
Because of an incident with a 6 month old used car supposedly just off lease.. I now take a used auto to a body shop a transmission shop and my mechanic.. if there’s any conflict.. like you can’t do that.. that’s ok it’s your car and I move on..
Hello Bro…thanks for the link to Merle’s song. I haven’t heard it in 30 years. Just think he released it 40 years ago and he was questioning where the country was going then. He would be rolling over if he saw it now. I totally enjoyed listening to it while reading all the comments below the song. It seems you and I aren’t the only ones in this country that thinks it has gone down the tubes.
I remember what my Dad, who flew B17s in WW2, told me. He said he was glad he lived when he did. He said in the 30s, 40s, and 50s, people all helped each other, there were no rabble rousers, people were all patriotic and proud of our country. Many fought because of their patriotism. Even movie stars like Jimmy Stewart and Clark Gable flew bombers. (If you want to listen to a military reality story, this one will tell you what it was like in a B17 and the book written by one of the few that survived those bombing missions over Germany see the link below)
https://artofmanliness.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=de21c7d1d490ef67077051042&id=0de2cd018f&e=0d942aa46e
I used to be proud of our country also. Still proud of Texas. Wish we would go back to being a Republic with true representation.
With the crooks in power now…In BOTH Parties…it is embarrassing to hear Biden talk, Kamala laugh at everything like a hyena, and the continual lies out of Pelosi, Schumer, McConnell, Cheney, and the liars in the bureaucracy like Fauci.
I totally agree with you. I am a realist and I don’t see the country getting better until it gets much worse. Whether we face external or internal annihilation before people wake up, I don’t know which will come first. But when people here finally realize that our founders were right and were inspired by divine inspiration when they formed a Republic, and that socialism and communism have never given people freedom, we will continue to spiral downward. We have raised a generation of geeks and wimps. Very few real men anymore.
Humans suffer from, what I call “grass is greener syndrome.” We can lead ourselves to believe ANYTHING is better than what we have and “where we are,” simply because it is different.
Marx (and Engels) were not original. The principals of communism and socialism had existed for hundreds of years before our Founders got together for the first time. All were discussed; all were rejected. The dumbasses who push Marxism are the same ones who never read about New Harmony, Indiana or bothered to study up on what happens to the proletariat AFTER the communist revolution. They’re also the ones who believe they are smarter than the folks who intensely cussed & discussed what our government should be for months — some for years, before they came together to forge the Constitution.
According to when I was backstage at the Bad Bunny Concert, which is funny because one my many names is Cosmic Chicken Bunny. BB whole stage was a Tractor Trailer. Pretty different than most bands stages. Mind you this show was BEFORE the Canadian truckers did their thing and all them trucks in DC.
I’m always mindful of the world around me. Many many of these big rock stars and celebrities are “gifted seers”.
Bad Bunnys entire show is a Semi Truck and it’s literally called “The End of the world tour in 2032.”
I’m getting my CDL physical done today. And I might just say fuck it and go back to driving truck. I had pondered for a while that should I go back to driving truck and not complete my path due to road blocks and hurdles that seem to be relenetless lately. Because this hell pace is kicking my ass to be honest and quite frankly there is not enough money in this. Since i been here, gas doubled in price and a bag of groceries at safeway is $40 easy.
If that happens? Will we only have 10 years left?
According to the paper written by the Jedi. Aka Hopi. To the UN, there is 3 people on earth that are very powerful doing a survey. If they are unable to complete their paths. The world will end and it will be no more. This being the 5th and final world.
They seem to think I’m one of those 3.
Im not so bold to think I am as they say I am. THE DUDE knows best. I do often look at what is presented, around me and consider all its facets. Symbolism etc etc. Ask for guidance. And I am aware there are many who would like for me to miss step off my path if that were the case.
I asked for a sign. Then a brand new Lamborghini rolled up and parked in my office lot, next to my car. Like what the hell does that mean? Please Dumb it down for me DUDE.
I can’t imagine that if I left the stadiums and went and drove truck, just that simple change of course would change everything and accelerate the end of the earth. But who knows.
That is alot of weight to bear on one’s shoulders.
But driving truck pays a bunch more, I have way less responsibility and all that. Sometimes I’m dumb enough to add all my hours I work up and divide it by my salary. Then I think. Fuck I’m only making $11 an hour for fucks sake.
I don’t believe in the premise I’m the “indispensable man”, as the poem goes. Life was here before me and life will continue hopefully after I’m gone.
Choosing alternative paths definitely creates a butterfly effect. If that is true? If I went back to driving truck and it meant that Bad Bunnys prophecy was correct, the end of the world in 2032? Well all that bullshit that everyone is fighting over in the background about people “like” by the powers that be? Doesn’t really matter. Now does it. Because there won’t be any more powers that be if the world ends in 2032. Won’t be anyone.
Wonder if it is true. If it is. Well that is hard choice for many. Because I’m about to roll out and go back to driving truck. I guess we will see.
“If I went back to driving truck and it meant that Bad Bunnys prophecy was correct, the end of the world in 2032?”
Better hope the songwriter isn’t dyslexic, and transposed the last two digits…
Vaya con Dios…
Someone just gave me $200 and said happy birthday! FTW! You should go back to driving truck.
LOL
I’m not even kidding. Right after I posted that. Someone sent me $200 as a late birthday present. Which my birthday is in August of last year and said “FTW Andy! go drive truck.”
What are the odds of that???
Hmmmmmmm.
Going to get my CDL physical now.
I think Paul will be my official last show. Except occasionally I will Moonlight and run back stage and baracade for them. I told the big wig over at the Stadiums and she said. Please Moonlight for me at Luke Comes and the Chili Peppers and Roger Waters. I need you to run back stage for me. Nobody fucks around when you are back there.
So I said I can probably do that.
Honest to God, I have never in my entire 51 years on this planet ever met a woman like her. She is super physically beautiful. But I tell you what. I have never in my life ever met even remotely as powerful, driven, make shit happen woman. In a field where it is 99% men at the top. She is a True Jedi master! Most women can’t even make it to the show as a prop. Nobody fucks with her. She is fair. No nonsense good attitude but if you step out of line and hand her some bullshit? She will ban you from the stadiums for 5 years. It won’t matter who you know, if you paid $2500 a VIP pass or purchase a $500,000 box seat as soon as that facial recognition software captures your image at a stadium, homeland security is notified you are on site and a viable threat to everyones saftey.
Hahahaha fuck around and Find out. Hahahaha.
And she adores me. .hahahah thank God for that.
Off to grab 18 gears for 10 years or the end of the world. Unless a bunch of money falls from heaven into my lap by Monday.
LOL
Ten years is a long time. Drive safe.
I’m with you 100% on the mid-60s peak of American lifestyle. In ’63 at the age of 22 I bought my first new car, a Corvair convertible. In ’64 I sold that piece of junk (after the second valve job) and bought my second new car, a ’64 Rambler wagon, which was my first air conditioned car. By the way, when I bought both of those cars, I was making $64.50 a week at United Press International. Then I made a big step up in ’65 working for Collins Radio and bought my first airplane, a ’59 Cessna 150 while making $125 a week. And making car payments and house rent payments. Avgas was $.50 a gallon, and I was flying daily on my lunch hour since the office was right across Central Distressway from a little airport. Yeah, I’d say the mid-60s were my peak.
LOL.. yea the buggie i drive I paid two hundred for it.. put a quarter million on it so far.. and would still trust it on a drive across the USA.. I joke about it being me.. rusty got a lot of miles on it.. but still has heart.. the wifes car.. is the new one.. I don’t even know how to run all the tech crap in it.. LOL.. paid more for two tires than I did for the whole car.. LOL..I got lucky.. the grandson was side lined by someone texting and driving with my old vehicle.. the insurance company was only going to give me two hundred. I was arguing with them.. and the owner of a car lot.. ( use to be my mechanic ) was listening and said.. you were a good customer for many many years.. we got this one in that I can’t say how it is.. but it sounds ok.. hasn’t been looked at or worked on..you can have it for what we paid for it.. two hundred dollars.. I got it.. took it in to be checked and found out that the lady that had it was like myself.. had the service records way back to its birth.. they totalled it out because some guy was texting and driving and rear ended her.. she had her kids in the car.. was really mad.. little shaver of a girl big guy and he was afraid she was going to do him in for putting her children and dog in danger.. LOL nice girl.. we visited for a long time on it..
the tow truck driver told me about her outburst of disgust and anger.. LOL LOL.. he was the one that answered the call for the accident.. on both cars..
I have always been bogged down with medical expenses.. which sucks..
“On a God is Laughing at Us note: Not only are we more polarized than ever, but the gap between the Haves and Have-Not’s is deepening.”
It ain’t God — It’s the other guy, and he’s been rolling on the floor for a dozen years or more, now.
BTW the gap between the haves and have-nots is smaller than in the vast amount of human history. Picture a king. Picture him with $10bln (in 2020 dollars) worth of PMs and jewels. Now picture a loaf of bread and a fist of cheese costing a ha’penny, and 98% of his subjects struggling to come up with said sliver of coin.
We are less than 500 years removed from this lifestyle. Mr. Ford spoiled us. The “rich” aren’t nearly as rich (comparatively) as they were in times past. Only the median of the Bell curve has shifted.
This should scare the living day lights out of everyone. We are sleep walking into Berlin 1937. All in a candy coated wrapper of slogans and politically charged labels that betray the underlying real intentions. [CENSORSHIP] of dissenting opinion. This all goes away when the $ as payola for supporting these business ventures becomes worthless.
They will be the first to move on when the money dries up. They will look for the new free money from agendas operations.
https://twitter.com/wiczipedia/status/1281179071267962887
Seems like there is a double meaning in the title.
https://www.amazon.com/How-Lose-Information-War-Conflict-ebook/dp/B088RMM9RH/ref=sr_1_3?crid=179Z2T8MUXCB6&keywords=Nina+Jankowicz&qid=1651250549&s=books&sprefix=nina+jankowicz%2Cstripbooks%2C284&sr=1-3
Fascinating: Even admits there is a military aspect to it all.
https://podtail.se/podcast/the-russia-guy/e110-nina-jankowicz-on-how-to-lose-the-information/
She forgets to mention Russia financing of the green movement to hurt competition from the US petroleum industry.
https://freebeacon.com/issues/foreign-firm-funding-u-s-green-groups-tied-to-state-owned-russian-oil-company/
Certianly not impartial or balanced[IMHO].
“Peak lifestyle occurred in 1964, or so.”
– I agree.., mid to late 60’s.., and for me personally, the proverbial nail-in-the-coffin was 1971 when Nixon cancelled the convertibility of the United States dollar to gold.
“income earner could support a family AND own a home AND do it all in 40-hours a week.”
The best year I had I made just shy three dollars an hour.. groceries for a family of 4 was 75.00 a month..rent..50.00 electricity 5.95 if you really used a lot it was around 15..mom stayed home with the kids..
My wife a nurse.. made 4.75 an hour..now the greater at Walmart starts at 20..mom has to work and groceries run 450 a month per person..( more if you dine out or get coffee and doughnut)
Rent in a dive over a grand a month.. your kids are raised by a sitter or the local hoodlums or television..
Health insurance use to be for everyone today it takes everything you make to get it..
When I stopped working I was working two full time and one part time jobs..
He’ll year to pay off a hospital debt I worked one full time position at the hospital in trade for the hospital bill.. for the surgeon I resurfaced his clinic parking lot by hand..so I worked three full time and one part time positions..( yes it almost did me in at 140 plus hours a week) a day of vacation was an 8 or 10 hour day..
The good Samaritan federal programs were for those in desperate need temporarily..today the vast majority of hourly laborers are on one or more as an equalizer..
Times has surely changed
MAJ13 wrote: “So, that brings me to: “Peak lifestyle occurred in 1964, or so.””
As a kid of the 50’s and 60’s I have found memories of that era, an era when the WW2 vets were middle aged men in the primes of their lives and those who were older still remembered how bad it was in the Depression. Such memories can distort things in our minds so …
… I looked at real economic data as to how the average person lived and what it cost, and economically the PEAK in American Lifestyles for the average family was in that 1967-1973 period as long as you can ignore the Vietnam War and the racial segregation problems of the South.
That is later than some put the peak at but the key for the AVERAGE family was that FINALLY in the late 1960’s the Interstate Highway System’s major components were completed and the family could pile into the family station wagon and go LONG DISTANCES relatively quickly and CHEAPLY (compared to trains, which still ran, or airplanes). Go South. Go West. Go East. You name it … and boy did they do that!!
Suddenly the mobility of American Society for the AVERAGE income person and family took a HUGE LEAP UPWARDS. From where I lived in the midwest one could finally easily drive the family to South Florida for a vacation … and do it in ONE long 24 hour driving day! versus 3 to 4 days just a decade before. For an average working person taking the family to Florida for a vacation on a tight family budget was something never doable before, ditto for taking the family out West to see the great National Parks. It is something we take totally for granted today but was unheard of until the middle/late 1960’s (going East from the midwest was doable starting in the 1930’s … the turnpikes across Indiana, Ohio, NY State and Pennsylvania had mostly been built by the end of the 1930’s but heading south or west had NOT been easily doable)
Houses were very reasonably priced. Food was more expensive compared to income than today, though healthier, as were household goods such as furniture and appliances but those items were also better built and lasted longer. Cars were built like shit, wasn’t until Honda came along in the early 70’s that American manufacturers started to clean up their quality and vehicle longevity act, but they were relatively CHEAP.
Take a look at the growth curve, peak output years, and then decline, of the private aircraft manufacturers … Cessna, Piper, and Beachcraft and that will tell you the real tale about personal disposable incomes and ability of Americans to live a ever increasing lifestyle. At the peak year they produced 50,000 small private aircraft not counting the corporate aircraft. Today that numbers under 1,000/yr (2020: 882 … 851 single engine; 31 twin engine) and their cost compared to what people earn is astronomical.
https://gama.aero/wp-content/uploads/2020ShipmentReport-02242021.pdf
There have been various ups and downs since the early 1970’s starting about with the first oil embargo n 1973, but overall for the average person it has been a steady DOWNHILL SLIDE for the people of the US for the last 50 years.
“For an average working person taking the family to Florida for a vacation on a tight family budget was something never doable ”
It is still like that for those on the bottom.. I can honestly say I have never been on a real vacation.. the last vacation for any reason enjoyable was when I was six..
My kids all go on vacations.. but they are executives.. and their companies give lucrative benefit packages.. when I worked at the hospital.. you had to do your weekends and shifts.. because of how they hire.. they have a point one to point ten.. with ten being guaranteed ten working days every two weeks.. then PRN.. for those that only work a weekend once a month.. I was a point five.. now I worked thirteen of every fourteen days.. but my hired status was point five..
I was giving away forty hours a year away to people that got sick .. because you could only bank so many hours.. at the end I was giving away my whole vacation time.. you might ask.. why not take it.. at point five.. your only guaranteed five working days.. you have to work your mandated shift.. hospital staffing is always short staffed.. it is where they can manage the budget.. so if you asked to take two weeks off.. you were denied the vacation time.. and then if you took five days off.. you didn’t get paid for it.. because you got your guaranteed five days of work..
they gave notices that if you had twenty or thirty years in you could use the executive condo’s or take the cruise.. the only thing was.. it was for the executive staff.. not the floor workers.. at the cabinet shop.. the same thing..
I had always dreamed of taking a vacation.. there are a few places I would have loved to see.. but realistically.. it won’t ever happen in my lifetime.. I am bound by my position.. now bound by my income status.. it is what it is.. you live to die.. and pay medical expenses.. the sad truth of the working class.. that is also why it is so hard to get people to take labor positions.. why work in a field that may have a decent starting wage but no future.. no retirement no insurance.. no vacations no perks.. instead get the sheet of paper coveted.. get in a desk job and sit with the big boys..
At the plant.. I thought if I could prove to them.. so they had a thing if you could come up with something that would save the company ten grand a year.. you got to go to the country club with the bosses.. once a month.. I went every month.. it became a challenge.. he hated to pay for desert.. so I figured out a way to get my desert and meal.. LOL LOL.. I quit after I took four hours off for a childs surgery.. they wrote me up with a warning….seems they kept a point system.. and I had had jury duty twelve years prior.. after I quit the boss ran into my new boss a couple of months later… my old boss told him.. dam If we had only realized just how hard of a worker he was.. we wouldn’t have ever given him a written warning for those four hours.. seemed no one wanted to be slave labor.. and they had to hire six people to take my place to get the work done…. even now they ask me if I want to come back to work..
“Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wages and salaries
increased 1.2 percent and benefit costs increased”
https://youtu.be/hWsHumiGVPU
Lol.. yeah sure right you betcha…
The only reason there’s an increase shown.. is after covid employers had to increase starting wages to attract laborers to service and basic labor positions..
Wages for full time staff did not go up.. just starting wages.. benefit packages declined for hourly wage earner.. and went up for executive staff.. it was all in the announcements..lol lol
The staff scuttle butt.. amazing what you can find out in the lunchroom..
Insurance up..utilities up,groceries up, fuel up, medical expenses up…
It’s all in what position of society your in.. I would love to have tri-care it’s the golden goose.. unfortunately it’s not an insurance that the average hourly wage earner could get. Most companies don’t even offer insurance and have gotten rid of retirement packages for the labor staff..
And to think we used to make fun of the old geezers longing for the good old days before rock and roll, free love, and automatic transmissions! I remember a guy telling me that the electric starter was the cause of the downfall of civilization.
We’ve become our parents and nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.
I’ll take my Geritol on the rocks, please.
“I’ll take my Geritol on the rocks, please.”
LOL LOL
Make that a milk of mag sour on the rocks for me LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL…
Damn! I must be getting old. I remember having to hand crank the old Peugeot 403 I took my driving test on. It had a stick shift on the wheel and there was snow on the ground. I didn’t dare stall it or I’d have to hand crank it in front of the examiner!
That car took me everywhere, but one time I was in a shopping center and a flyweight had come loose in the distributor. It literally cut through the aluminum housing and I was stuck there with my mom in the passenger seat. A bit of scrap copper wire to secure the flyweight and a hose clamp around the distributor and it was enough to get it started again so I could drive home. Those are real memories from the crazy days of youth!
Time for a song !!! Always look on the bright side of life !!! Monty pythons flying circus
https://youtu.be/SJUhlRoBL8M
5G radiation is NOT safe! I think they overstated the monitored levels by 1,000… an easy notational error… but even ‘corrected’ it is not safe for long term exposure.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2022-04-29/5g-radiation-studied-south-carolina
Glad I live out in the jungle, far from the city saturation of this microwave ‘stew’. I will not be holding a 5G phone to my head… ever.
{From WSJ}
FBI Conducted Potentially Millions of Searches of Americans’ Data Last Year, Report Says
WASHINGTON—The Federal Bureau of Investigation performed potentially millions of searches of American electronic data last year without a warrant, U.S. intelligence officials said Friday, a revelation likely to stoke longstanding concerns in Congress about government surveillance and privacy.
https://archive.ph/nRP6Y#selection-257.0-257.293
Trump says Kellyanne Conway ‘totally destroyed’ her ‘mentally ill’ husband
A short message was sent out by Trump’s Save America PAC with the image of a tweet featuring a screenshot of a tired-looking Conway during an interview this week on CNN, which was focused on the Capitol riot, and the caption, “Is George Conway ok…?”
“No, he’s mentally ill, a very sick man. I don’t know what Kellyanne did to him, but it must have been really bad. She has totally destroyed this guy — his mind is completely shot!,” Trump said.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-says-kellyanne-conway-totally-destroyed-her-mentally-ill-husband/ar-AAWI37h
I’d guess it was not Kellyanne, but the sociopath, Marxist pervs at the Lincoln Project…
The Inflation Draining Your Wallet, Grocery Cart, And Gas Tank Is Far Steeper Than 8 Percent
When you hear ‘8 percent inflation’ bandied about but feel certain your costs are rising at a far higher rate, you’re not crazy.
The Labor Department’s March inflation numbers released this month skyrocketed past February’s, hitting a 12-month increase of 8.5 percent and the steepest annual increase since 1981. That’s no small figure, but most Americans know the inflation they encounter at the grocery store checkout, the gas pump, the car lot, and the leasing office is far higher than that.
https://thefederalist.com/2022/04/27/the-inflation-draining-your-wallet-grocery-cart-and-gas-tank-is-far-steeper-than-8-percent/
WE know that, but it’s good to see it in print so maybe it’ll filter into other peoples’ consciousness…
“The Inflation Draining Your Wallet, Grocery Cart, And Gas Tank Is Far Steeper Than 8 Percent”
OH MY YES.. daycare alone went up over ten percent..groceries are thirty seven percent more than a little over a week ago.. took out a package of store bought thick cut bacon today..
It was paper thin.. the package was the same size but then I looked.. the weight was ten ounces.. the one pound sixteen ounce packages dropped to twelve ounces in 2008 and now it is 10 ounces..
just checking the weight on a few other things to.. rolls that we normally get are a third smaller to.. you still get twenty slices of bread to a loaf of bread but it doesn’t have the substance.. the bread that costs four dollars now.. that still has substance.. but..instead of paying 15 cents a slice.. ( that is if you eat the ends like I do) your paying now close to twenty for the cheap loaf and forty for the bread that wasn’t so much fluff.. in 2008 you could buy the same loaf of fluff for a nickle a slice.. bacon was still 33 cents a slice for cheap bacon.. but if you get to the good thick sliced or make it your self.. your cost will go up to about ninty cents a slice.. it is the same with canned goods.. the total weight is going down.. and the quantity of product is being reduced.. if you don’t actually look at it.. it would seem the same.. the can’s went from sixteen to fourteen .. but product was reduced and more water was put in.. I haven’t taken the scale out but my guess is nine or ten ounces of product..
besides the price increases..
I know what i get out of it.. and it isn’t thirty seven percent increase is nothing from my perspective..