SGT
The Middle Class Is Being Destroyed: Now Only 25 Percent Of All Americans Have $10,000 Or More In Savings
by Michael Snyder, The Economic Collapse Blog:
We just got more evidence that the middle class is being systematically eviscerated. According to a GOBankingRates survey that was just released, more than half the country has less than $1,000 in savings. So in the event of a major economic disaster of some kind, over 50 percent of the nation is going to be completely out of cash almost immediately. For years I have been writing about the steady decline of the middle class in the United States, but I still get astounded by numbers such as these. According to this new survey, only 25 percent of all Americans have $10,000 or more in savings at this point…
$0 saved: 39 percent
Less than $1,000 saved: 18 percent
$1,000 to $4,999 saved: 12 percent
$5,000 to $9,999 saved: 6 percent
$10,000 or more saved: 25 percent
Other surveys have come up with similar results. One discovered that about two-thirds of the country is living paycheck to paycheck, and another which was conducted by the Federal Reserve found that 44 percent of all U.S. adults do not even have enough money “to cover an unexpected $400 expense”.
Most of us have grown accustomed to barely scraping by from month to month. But that is not what being “middle class” is supposed to be about. If you are in the “middle class” you should be making more than you are spending and building long-term wealth.
But just like our federal government, most of us are spending money like there is no tomorrow. If we don’t have quite enough money for what we want to do, we just borrow more. Right now, U.S. consumers are more than 12 trillion dollars in debt, and it is impossible to build any real wealth when you are constantly drowning in red ink.
We are willingly enslaving ourselves, but most people were never even taught about the dangers of going into too much debt.
Another major factor in the decline of the middle class is the fact that we have been shipping millions of good paying jobs overseas. We have lost more than 70,000 manufacturing facilities since China joined the WTO, and we have been replacing good paying manufacturing jobs with low paying service jobs.
Without enough good paying jobs, our middle class has been steadily shrinking. In 2015, the middle class became a minority of the population in the United States for the first time ever recorded.
If you go back to the early 1970s, the middle class was well over 60 percent of the population, but now that number is hovering in the high 40s.
And things continue to get even worse. For example, NBC News recently reported that the number of Americans that can’t afford to be living in their own homes has more than doubled since 2001…
Over 38 million American households can’t afford their housing, an increase of 146 percent in the past 16 years, according to a recent Harvard housing report.
Under federal guidelines, households that spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs are considered “cost burdened” and will have difficulty affording basic necessities like food, clothing, transportation and medical care.
But the number of Americans struggling with their housing costs has risen from almost 16 million in 2001 to 38 million in 2015, according to the Census data crunched in the report. That’s more than double.
If we want to turn things around for the middle class, we need more entrepreneurs and more small businesses.
Small businesses have traditionally been the primary engine for job growth in this country. But instead of encouraging small businesses to start and grow, the federal government has been absolutely killing small businesses with red tape and high taxes.
If I win my election, I am going to do all that I can to fight for entrepreneurs and small businesses. Today, the percentage of Americans that work for themselves is close to a record low, and we desperately need to get that turned around.
So I I go to Congress, one of the first things I plan to do is to push for the elimination of the “self-employment tax”.
If you are an entrepreneur, then you already know how painful that particular tax can be.
We have got to get this economy growing again. Barack Obama was the only president in our entire history never to have a single year when the U.S. economy grew by at least 3 percent, and overall we have not had a year when our economy grew by at least 3 percent in over a decade.
And as I noted earlier this week, “our economy has still only grown at an average rate of just 1.33 percent a year over the last 10 years.”
Is that acceptable to you?
Read More @ TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
Juncker Unveils Grand Vision For A United States Of Europe
from ZeroHedge:
European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker delivered his annual state of the union address on Wednesday, in which he laid out his grand vision for federalist Europe, and urged European Union governments to use economic recovery (i.e., Mario Draghi’s nationalization of the bond market), the political weakness in the US and Brexit as “springboards” toward a closer union, built on an expanded euro zone and a pivotal role in world trade. The allegedly unintoxicated Juncker sketched out a vision of a post-2019 EU where 30 countries would be using the euro, with an EU finance minister running key budgets to help states in trouble.
Among the key proposals put forward by the EU Commission president were compulsory Euro membership for the remaining eight European states outside the bloc, for new countries to join the Schengen zone, plans for closer defensive cooperation leading to the creation of a European army in the next decade and easier ratification of EU-wide trade treaties with foreign powers. Tax and welfare standards would converge and Europe, not the United States, would be the hub of a free-trading world.
In short, a blueprint for a United States of Europe.
Let's throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the harbour. Catch the trade winds in our sails.
My 2017 #SOTEU speech: https://t.co/pHb10Uhng0 pic.twitter.com/k3IUnU0d8I— Jean-Claude Juncker (@JunckerEU) September 13, 2017
“The wind is back in Europe’s sails,” Junker told the European Parliament quoted by Reuters, citing economic growth and the easing of a succession of crises — Greek debt, refugee inflows, the rise of eurokcepticism reflected in Brexit – that seemed to threaten the EU’s survival.
Juncker has also resurrected the idea of merging his own post with that of the President of the European Council, who currently represents the interests of its member state governments, saying it would be easier if “one captain was steering the ship.” Such as president would be chosen in an EU-wide vote. A powerful new EU-wide economy minister has also been touted, one which would have power to whip dissenters in line with a common EU vision.
In his best infomercial salesman immitation, Juncker urged Europeans to hurry, or else the generous offer may not last: “Now we have a window of opportunity, but it will not stay open for ever,” he said, emphasizing a need to move on from and even profit from the British vote to leave the bloc in 2019 according to Reuters.
Some promptly backed Juncker’s blueprint: German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said that Juncker’s plan to build a closer European Union based on an expanded euro zone was largely in line with Germany’s vision for the bloc. The German also said that Juncker had discussed with Chancellor Angela Merkel his annual State of the EU speech in which he spoke of a vision of a post-2019 EU where some 30 countries would be using the euro.
“It is good that he is putting pressure (to expand the euro zone) but the preconditions (for joining the euro zone) must be fulfilled,” Schaeuble told the ARD broadcaster in an interview. “It is in fact so that EU countries who fulfill the preconditions become members of the euro under the Lisbon Treaty”. However, the German who in the summer of 2015 nearly kicked Greece out of the Eurozone, added that EU countries wishing to adopt the single currency should not do so before their public finances and economies are sound enough as they could face the fate of Greece, which had to be bailed out by the EU and IMF in 2010.
* * *
Desperate to put the Brexit humiliation in the rearview mirror, Juncker said that “we will keep moving on because Brexit isn’t everything, it is not the future of Europe,” Brexit supporters promptly said his speech showed they were right to take Britain out of a bloc set on creating more powerful, central institutions. The most predictable opponent of the hour-long speech, met with stirring applause by a mostly zombified audience, was UK MEP Nigel Farage.
“The message is very clear: Brexit has happened, new steam ahead… More Europe in every single direction and all to be done without the consent of the people,” Farage told the floor.
“The way you’re treating Hungary and Poland already must remind them of living under the Soviet communists. All I can say is thank God we’re leaving because you’ve learned nothing from Brexit.
Read More @ ZeroHedge.com
German Hyperinflation & What They Do Not Teach in School
by Martin Armstrong, Armstrong Economics:
QUESTION: Dear Marty
Following your blog is a good way to counter the propaganda in our society.
Today you stated:
‘This was the fate of the hyperinflation in Germany. It was NOT the Quantity of Money theory, it was the fact that there was a 1918 Communist Revolution in Germany where they had even asked the Communist Russians to take over Germany. It was the collapse in CONFIDENCE that led to the hyperinflation.’
Living in the UK, with German friends, I do not know any person who is aware of this and they would not believe that Germany nearly became communist if I told them. This is not taught at school anywhere.
Can you point me to some literature or other sources where we can find out more about what happened with the communists in Germany and elsewhere in Europe? I know they are making a resurgence at present (Think the EU!)
Thanks for all you do
SP
ANSWER: Curious. I know that in Germany they do not really teach the details of the rise of Hitler. But he was the ultimate reaction to the events of the 1920s. There is a good book on the subject, but it is in German – Die Deutsche Revolution 1918/19. I have explained this revolution for this is why Germany overthrew Emperor Wilhelm II who was compelled to abdicate. There are photographs of the civil war that took place at that time.
This was the Weimar Republic, which was the revolution and the end of Prussian emperors. The revolutionary period lasted from November 1918 until the adoption in August 1919. But what also seems to be omitted from many accounts taught in school, is the simple fact that the German government interfered in the Russian Revolution and was instrumental in creating the Russian Revolution.
The German Imperial Government feared that Russia would enter the war. The rising communist movement was anti-war. Germany saw a chance for victory by supporting the anti-war sentiment of the Bolsheviks. Germany permitted Vladimir Lenin to travel in a sealed train wagon from his place of exile in Switzerland through Germany, Sweden and Finland to Petrograd. Since the start of the February Revolution in Russia, Lenin was trying to figure out a way to get back into Russia. Germany aided that assuming he was anti-war and would keep Russia out of World War I. Within months of arriving, Lenin led the October Revolution in Russia and the Bolsheviks seized power and indeed Russia withdrew from the world war. According to Leon Trotsky, the October Revolution would not have succeeded without Lenin.
With the success of the October Revolution in Russia and the Dream of a new Marxist Utopia, the Germans entered into a civil war and invited Lenin to please take Germany. Clearly, the scheme of the Imperial German government had backfired. It not only was instrumental in creating the Soviet Union by turning over Russia’s socialist transformation decisively into the hands of the Bolsheviks, its plan led to the overthrow of its own hold on power. This is all recorded in contemporary newspapers (see New York Times Nov 11, 1918).
Read more @ ArmstrongEconomics.com
Russia Collusion Found! There Is ‘Blood In The Water’ And The Sharks Are Circling For The Kill
by Susan Duclos, All News Pipeline:
The MSM, liberals and Democrats have found their culprit who was “colluding” with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election, someone to finally blame for the fact that their candidate lost the election, someone to attack and destroy….. Mark Zuckerberg and his social media website, Facebook.
KARMA, BABY, KARMA!
Recently Facebook’s chief security officer, Alex Stamos admitted that Russia had “likely” used 470 fake accounts to buy about $100,000 worth of advertising promoting “divisive social and political messages” to Americans, and according to the Daily Beast, those “propaganda” ads could have reached anywhere between 23 million users to 70 million users.
As expected, the MSM, liberals across the board and Democratic politicians and Republicans to boot, have jumped on this news with brutal attacks on Facebook and it’s founder Mark Zuckerberg. Headlines blaring about how Facebook was used by Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election, letters from campaign finance reform group, accusing Facebook of being used as an “accomplice” in a Russian influence scheme, Yahoo reports, with Rachel Cohen, a spokeswoman for Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, screeching about how “The American public has a right know how Russian ads were used on Facebook to influence the election!!!”
Anyone who has read my work over the years, knows I am no fan of Facebook, nor Mark Zuckerberg, but this outrage by some of the very same people and news outlets that protected and defended Zuckerberg and Facebook when he was “colluding” with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to censor Islamic terrorism news for political purposes and to “influence” Facebook users, by labeling it “anti-immigranthate posts” and/or “racism,” exposes their extreme double standards.
The two were overheard exchanging words on a live transmission broadcast on the United Nations website, as participants took their seats at a U.N. development summit in New York on Saturday, Bloomberg reported.
After Ms. Merkel asked Mr. Zuckerberg about offensive posts on the refugee crisis, the Facebook CEO said “we need to do some work” on the issue.
“Are you working on this?” Ms. Merkel asked in English, Bloomberg reported.
“Yeah,” Mr. Zuckerberg reportedly responded, before the transmission was disrupted.
A surge of Syrian refugees seeking asylum in Germany has spurred a spate of attacks on refugee centers and anti-immigrant sentiment, Bloomberg reported. Earlier this month, Facebook vowed to clean up racist content on its German website by partnering with a German Internet watchdog, called Voluntary Self-Monitoring of Multimedia Service Providers, to monitor suspected hate postings.
After that discussion reports showed that Facebook blocked conservative radio host Michael Savage for posting news on Islamic crime in 2016, amidst the U.S. presidential election where refugee immigration in the U.S. was one of the big campaign issues, among other countless examples of censoring the news in order to “influence” the election on behalf of Hillary Clinton, who was on record as calling for a 550{5f621241b214ad2ec6cd4f506191303eb2f57539ef282de243c880c2b328a528} increase of Syrian refugees into the U.S.
We assume that was alright with the mainstream media and liberals and Democratic politicians because Zuckerberg was using his social media platform to hide content that didn’t fit with liberal ideology.
Where was that outrage when it was revealed in 2016, again in the midst of a presidential campaign, that Facebook curators were actively suppressing conservative news sources from their “trending news” section, while artificially injecting liberal news, all in order to “influence” voters by hiding any news that didn’t fit their liberal bias?
Another former curator agreed that the operation had an aversion to right-wing news sources. “It was absolutely bias. We were doing it subjectively. It just depends on who the curator is and what time of day it is,” said the former curator. “Every once in awhile a Red State or conservative news source would have a story. But we would have to go and find the same story from a more neutral outlet that wasn’t as biased.”
Stories covered by conservative outlets (like Breitbart, Washington Examiner, and Newsmax) that were trending enough to be picked up by Facebook’s algorithm were excluded unless mainstream sites like the New York Times, the BBC, and CNN covered the same stories.
Now the very same people that truly didn’t care about Zuckerberg allowing Facebook to be used to “influence” the election are now “demanding” that they reveal their internal data and the specific ads they found that were connected to Russia, yet no one cared when Zuckerberg and company refused to reveal the extent of their conservative news suppression or algorithms.
Where was the outrage on the part of the media about “influencing” a foreign election when the Obama administration gave $350,000 tax payer dollars to an Israeli group that used the money to build a campaign to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israeli parliamentary elections?
Some $350,000 was sent to OneVoice, ostensibly to support the group’s efforts to back Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement negotiations. But OneVoice used the money to build a voter database, train activists and hire a political consulting firm with ties to President Obama’s campaign — all of which set the stage for an anti-Netanyahu campaign, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said in a bipartisan staff report.
Hmmmmmmmmm….. if we had a scale here, and on one side was $100,000 worth of advertising on Facebook by entities tied to Russia, and on the other side was $350,000 spent by the Obama administration which was used to build a database, train activists and hire a firm with ties to Obama, to “influence” a foreign election….. which is worse?
Read More @ AllNewsPipeline.com
It’s official as another OPEC nation has killed the Petrodollar as Venezuela no longer accepting them for oil sales
by Kenneth Schortgen, TheDailyEconomist:
On Sept. 13 the Wall Street Journal announced that Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro has officially cut off accepting dollars for oil as another OPEC nation has joined in to kill the long-standing Petrodollar agreement.
Confirming what President Maduro had warned following the recent US sanctions, The Wall Street Journal reports that Venezuela has officially stopped accepting US Dollars as payment for its crude oil exports.
As we previously noted, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said last Thursday that Venezuela will be looking to “free” itself from the U.S. dollar next week. According to Reuters,
“Venezuela is going to implement a new system of international payments and will create a basket of currencies to free us from the dollar,” Maduro said in a multi-hour address to a new legislative “superbody.” He reportedly did not provide details of this new proposal.
Maduro hinted further that the South American country would look to using the yuan instead, among other currencies.
“If they pursue us with the dollar, we’ll use the Russian ruble, the yuan, yen, the Indian rupee, the euro,” Maduro also said.
And today, as The Wall Street Journal reports, in an effort to circumvent U.S. sanctions,
Venezuela is telling oil traders that it will no longer receive or send payments in dollars, people familiar with the new policy said.
Oil traders who export Venezuelan crude or import oil products into the country have begun converting their invoices to euros.
The state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela SA, known as PdVSA, has told its private joint venture partners to open accounts in euros and to convert existing cash holdings into Europe’s main currency, said one project partner.
The new payment policy hasn’t been publicly announced, but Vice President Tareck El Aissami, who has been blacklisted by the U.S., said Friday, “To fight against the economic blockade there will be a basket of currencies to liberate us from the dollar.” – Zerohedge
Venezuela now joins with Iran and Syria for no longer accepting dollars in the sale of oil, and this list of OPEC countries ditching the reserve currency are only expected to increase as China prepares to soon create a new oil contract outside of the Petrodollar.
Read More @ TheDailyEconomist.com
The New Cold War Might Drive Russia Permanently Into China’s Orbit (Podcast)
from Russia Insider:
Nation Contributing Editor Stephen F. Cohen and John Batchelor continued their excellent weekly podcast about the new US-Russian Cold War. (Previous installments, now in their fourth year, are at TheNation.com.)
It is easy to listen to these on computer or using a smartphone podcasting app.
Synopsis and audio follow below.
Some hypothetical but fateful questions are rarely, if ever, discussed. Cohen argues that one such question is this: As the long-established “world order” collapses and a new one struggles to emerge, where will Russia, still the world’s largest territorial country, end up politically? The outcome will be fateful, for better or worse.
Geographically, of course, Russia cannot leave the West. Its expanses include vast Far Eastern territories and peoples and a long border with China, but they also include major European cities such as St. Petersburg. For that reason alone, Russia has long been, to varying degrees at various times, both a European and non-European country. Geography, it is said, is destiny, but Cohen makes the following historical points:
§ The profound divide in Russia’s political and intellectual elites between Slavophiles, who saw Russia’s true destiny apart from the West, and Westernizers, who saw it with the West, originally debated passionately in the 19th century, has never ended. Arguably, it was only exacerbated by the country’s subsequent political history.
§ It was evident in the Soviet Communist Party in the 1920s, when rival factions debated and fought over the nature and future of the 1917 Revolution.
§ The long Stalin era, from 1929 to 1953, imposed aspects of Western modernization on the country, such as literacy, industrialization, and urbanization, but also elements of what some observers called “Oriental Despotism.” These conflicting elements of the West and the East underlay the struggle, mostly inside the Communist Party, but not only, between anti-Stalinist reformers and neo-Stalinist conservatives during subsequent decades.
Read More @ Russia-Insider.com
