An excellent example of how people fail to even consider the economic ramifications of monetary policy and instead blame said consequences through the "us" vs "them" false dichotomy.
Player wrote:The REAL problem is that too many people actually WORK full time and yet still cannot afford to live in this country, even in "low rent" areas such as where I live (in the "rust belt" ).
The
real reason that so many people working full time can't afford to live in this country is because of inflation. Inflation harms the mid to low incomes the most. Obamacare isn't going to make life any easier because of decades of currency devaluation that forces people to work more and more to get the same things.
The Fed pumping lots of cheap money into circulation has this effect-
Player wrote:Too much income is now generated from investment. That itself was OK back when investment actually meant investing in people's ideas, innovation and work. Today, its about playing games with moving accounts, dodging taxes. Money is siphoned off the workers in an unsustainable way.
And what Player is saying here is absolutely true. When we give golden parachutes and bail outs to the so called "Too Big To Fail" banks and broker institutions instead of letting them go bankrupt from their mal investments it only reinforces more bad investments.
The US has turned into a country that produces financial instruments instead of actual products and the biggest working sector is the service industry which is highly unstable in the Boom Bust cycle created by the actions of central banks. Such industries aren't recession proof.
This inflation is from years and years of massive government spending without any fiscal discipline enabled by the money printing of the Fed. The inflation pressures keep building and building slowly but surely. The workers pay doesn't keep up with
real inflation (though it keeps up just fine with core inflation from which the Fed determines monetary policy).
Where in 1970 (when we didn't have a fiat currency), Dad could work, mom would stay home with Johnny and Jenny and the family put away a few bucks in savings and was able to house, feed, clothe and educate themselves on one paycheck. If dad got hurt, or lost his job, mom could get a job as a temporary solution, a safety net as it were and the family had been able to save a little as well for more buffering against ill fate and disaster. Fast forward through 40 years of a pure fiat system designed so that government wouldn't have to worry about deficits and we get to where we are now.
Mom and Dad both have to work. Johnny and Jenny are without proper supervision because mom and dad are both at work and the kids get into troubles. There is no savings, all the family's income is going just to pay the rent or mortgage (thank the housing bubble for that, inflated specifically by the banks with government blessing to give the illusion of prosperity).
One recession, one family disaster and the family finds itself in deeply troubled waters. Where the family used to have it's own safety nets there are none now save government safety nets.
And it's all started at the foundation by monetary policy which devalued the very currency that all of the family's labors are based in.
So give the family free or cheaper insurance. Costs still go up and up and up. Let little Johnny and Jenny stay on mom and dad's insurance policy until 26 years old. Might as well since Johnny and Jenny's parents can't afford to send them to college. If the kids get loans then they'll be burdened by student loan debt the instant they get out of college and still can't find a job that enables them to actually move out of the parent's house. Might as well keep the kids on the parent's insurance, inflation cares not.
It is inflation that is causing this-
Player wrote:Money is siphoned off the workers in an unsustainable way.
Absolutely it's unsustainable. Just like all fiat currencies are unstable and unsustainable. Our current currency is only some 54 years old or so. A very old currency as far as fiat currencies go. And this is how it is and how it goes. All very predictable.
And it's all tied together. Those that worry that too many are taking advantage of the government dole, how can people not when what used to be private safety nets no longer exist? The government took that over long ago.
Those that cry about corporate greed screwing the workers, the companies operate in the same environment and have to deal with the same inflationary pressures as everything and everyone else and have to deal with those realities. Inflation harms everyone but particularly harms the so called middle class and poor. They feel the effects the most.
But inflation is good for those in debt. Debt is inflated away which leads to more debt. And everyone is in debt these days. A vicious cycle to say the least and all too often ignored. Government legislation is merely treatment for the symptoms of the disease, never addressing the actual disease itself because it's a disease government must have to function. To the detriment of everyone else. And look at who has the absolute most debt. Government, some $16 trillion+, inflation is their solution, their way of dealing with their debt, er...excuse me,
our debt.
As a society we have run up all this debt and inflation is the only way to deal with this debt. But that solution will also kill a society as fast and surely as any decadent, extreme and deviant moral behavior would.
Until this particular issue is ever addressed and dealt with then things like Obamacare is just giving aspirin to stage five cancer victims. It might get rid of the sufferer's headaches but the patient is still dying and suffering. And this problem transcends political party. Both parties are under the limitations and control of the Money Powers. Just like the rest of us are. But we point fingers at each other, each other's political parties and each other's beliefs and morals instead of looking at the real culprit who's actions are the true cause of our many myriad of problems.
It's all about the money, stupid!
