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Just read that Iraq's "government" has a $30 billion surplus. Gee, we used to have one of those, not so long ago.
Housing in my area (Boston) was notably affordable until the early 1980s. What changed? A whole new business- software. An explosion of new business and high salaries and money that didn't exist before. A friend of mine's ex-husband used to earn close to minimum wage as a mental health assistant. He gets an MBA, writes a software program (or stole his partner's, depending on who you talk to), opens a progressive company, and is worth $200 million. Multiply that by every other business that didn't exist before then, and the side effects (more money for lunches out, cars, having kids, buying whatever) and there is a housing boom that only stalled out in the late 1980s-1993 or so. Then another run-up, this time maybe more related to the credit and such, with a huge jump in the early 2000s from credit stuff.
But I still remember the sense of money being created from a whole new field, not unlike other times when an industry was created or took off.
The system by its very design was meant to collapse and a long with it will also fall your freedoms and the fabrics of which this land was built on. You see, we had the perfect monetary system up until 1913 which was the gold standard. By design that system of exchange was inherently not subject to the greed and corruption of governemnts. It was meant to be a form of check and balance on the government. On a gold standard, the government cannot spend what it does not own. With the emergence of the federal reserve that system of checks and balances was throw in the trash. Over time the currency was removed from the gold standard and hence the government can print as much money as they wish hence the reason we have a 9 trillion debt. In reality that 9 trillion is owed to the people who hold the currency. When the government pays off the debt it basically gets rid of currency in circulation and hence the currency that already exists becomes more valueable. To economists this is known as deflation and consumers realize this by seeing a general lowering in price levels. In reality paying off the national debt is impossible because it would create a hyper deflautionary situation. That means that money would become so scare that people would default on their loans and would ultimately become slaves to the lenders because money would become so scare. The great depression was caused by this very situation.
So in reality, we cannot pay off the debt and we must continue to rack up debt to make the markets liquid. As the national debt increases we also pay more insterest. Compared to todays amount of taxes paid in vs national debt interest we can't even pay the interset in full so we take out a loan and add that to the national debt to pay the interest on that debt. To make up for the shortfall we must raise taxes and reduce services so we can pay interest. Eventually the taxes will be so high that it won't make sense to work anymore and isntead it will make more sense to live off the government. Once the national debt and taxes are so high the currency will collapse due to excessive printing of the money. This is suppose to happen by design. The system was designed to take countries to the brink and bankrupt them.
If you don't believe me you can just take a look at history mainly the aregentine currency collapse (1999-2002).
America will not recover. When the Corporations began to implement Globalization they began to dissasemble american industries and export them to countries with cheap labor in order to maximise their own profits. They told us that a service based jobs would pay just as well as manufacturing. Of course this was a lie, but there were few out there that were speaking the truth and the ones who were were ignored (ie Ross Perot). Through inflated real estate and cheap borrowed money they were able to keep the economy booming thru the 90's and early 2000's. But it was all a pyramid scheme. There was no real wealth being created, only consumption thru debt. Now it is all falling apart. It is clear now that the Emperor has no clothes. There is no indusrial base to create wealth, there is no population of well educated people to launch us into the high tech arena. Only non growth service sector jobs in which one service is traded for another. We have allowed self serving corporations and a corupt goverment to lead us down a dead end street. In the end we will get what we deserve.
Reps to you! Best post in the thread so far. All of the retailers that sell the imported knock-off copies of products that used to be made here in the US are driving this country straight off a cliff. I bought one of the last Magnavox televisions to be made at the Greeneville, Tn plant. The company was losing market share because retailers didn't care about buying American. When that plant closed, hundreds of people were forced to take service sector jobs just to keep food on their tables. Those people are now trapped into being Walmart customers because they can't afford to shop anywhere else.
I remember when people would throw bricks at you for driving an import car in Toledo, Ohio. Lets go back to those good old days. The days when being an American meant supporting American business, and being able to live within your means.
Obviously the system is or more likely WAS working for you. The problem is it is at others expense, so people like me will continue to tell the truth here, and people like you will continue to try to silence us thru sarcasm.
I look at the year 2000 as the end of the good times for the average American. Since then we have had a jobless recovery that has really only helped an elite.
Do you know how much it costs to employ an American worker?
In addition to the hourly rate, add 7.5% for Social Security, average 4% for unemployment, for blue collar work average 8% for workman's comp.
That's X+.2X=Hourly rate of pay.
What's an average factory worker demand for wages? $15? Probably more? $15 after the cost of employing is $18.
The there's property taxes for your location and whatever's the latest tax dreamt up by the government.
There's the enormous, enormous risk of being sued for something you're not responsible for because of labor protection rules.
Then, you're taxed over 40% (varies with state. Be more like 45 to 50 in a place like Oregon.) if your money's in the U.S. However, if you keep your money off-shore, you don't pay taxes on it.
America is so out of touch with business that we deserve what we're getting. We don't deserve jobs because we think they're owed to us. The "elite" are the elite for a reason. They're different. Their money can come and go to whatever country is willing to make a fair deal. Unfortunately, American labor thinks they're something special... while Chinese blue collar employees are exiting Walmart with shopping carts loaded with new purchases.
Keep complaining folks! It'll all get better if you demand the incompentents in Washington fix it instead of getting out of the way.
"Then, you're taxed over 40% (varies with state. Be more like 45 to 50 in a place like Oregon.) if your money's in the U.S. However, if you keep your money off-shore, you don't pay taxes on it."
Are you talking about corporate tax rates? For an average small business, that cite is incorrect. A C corp pays tax on profits, and a good CPA will keep those profits low through any number of legalized deductions, such as company cars for execs, etc. A S corp has any profit flow through to the owner, and taxes are at the standard rates for individuals. A small S corp owner can also eliminate their own wages, and skip paying SS, Comp, and unemployment. It is all legal, if risky.
Employee productivity per dollar is more of an issue to employers than the dollar amount per hour.
Are you talking about corporate tax rates? For an average small business, that cite is incorrect. A C corp pays tax on profits, and a good CPA will keep those profits low through any number of legalized deductions, such as company cars for execs, etc. A S corp has any profit flow through to the owner, and taxes are at the standard rates for individuals. A small S corp owner can also eliminate their own wages, and skip paying SS, Comp, and unemployment. It is all legal, if risky.
Employee productivity per dollar is more of an issue to employers than the dollar amount per hour.
I have experience with a sole-proprietorship, LLC and an S corp. In my experience, net is taxed at 40%+ when you add in the 15% (and change) for soc.
A good CPA can't make business expenses appear out of nowhere... that's fraud. Therefore, the difference between a good CPA and a bad one is that the company who has a bad CPA pays more in taxes than is required. That's all.
Risky in what way? If you don't pay SS, you're committing fraud. As owner, you can't collect unemployment or comp. There's no unemployment for you and comp is a seperate disability/emergency policy... but you're still taxed at 40% plus (of net, of course.)
That's my experience (and why I let my guys go and only do enough to get by now.)
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