It has always been fairly obvious to me that leftist politicians go out of their way to enact legislation that helps eliminate more of the middle class, and for this very reason. As the state grows, the people shrink in stature, prosperity, and independence. Green theocracy is a magnificent catalyst in doing so. If anyone wants proof, for example, try building your own house and navigate the regulatory impediments and costs involved.
The middle class home in the 60s did not have sidewalks. It did not have streetlights every close as today. ?Many had drainage ditches . Bathroom exhaust fans did not exist. No g f c outlets. Most neighborhoods did not have concrete curbs. When you build a new home today , the government says you have to spend a certain percentage on landscaping. It's a big percentage. Very costly. I have my pictures with my father and my older siblings in a wheelbarrow barrel.When you finally had enough money to plant trees in bushes. That adds value and increases your property tax. .. The housing crisis is simply government excess regulation and taxes.That's it. Builders can't build a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom house anymore.Because the overhead is simply too expensive.
Interesting stats here Lau and they certainly go a long way in describing the diminished expectations many young (and not so young) people must be feeling today. Sadly, there’s also a lack of perspective when it comes to buying into socialism or communism as a solution. Social comparison in wealthy western countries leads to an amplified feeling of relative deprivation. Nothing an education in the last hundred years of world history or a month in Cuba wouldn’t cure. Knowledge about the reality of communism would certainly help in motivating a person to look for a solution other than one with a track record of misery and failure. Personally, I think the fix could come with three changes: Term limits, sound money, and a flat tax on income. In that order.
I would push back on the thesis that "AI is coming directly for many of the white-collar jobs". That is not what I've seen. No one loses their job because of AI. Instead AI has allowed companies to accomplish significantly more on much shorter timescales than without it. Recent job numbers (arguably, these numbers mix a lot of trends together) suggests that labor participation is strong.
The problem with the shrinkage of the middle class rests clearly with the fiat monetary system. Real asset backed money would solve this rather quickly, but of course the US government would have to cut spending by 75%, which it won't do. It won't even cut spending 0.0001%. DOGE was run out of town for even suggesting that fraud exists.
Important points on the stress crushing the middle class. I don't know the answers, overall, but where any of us sees an opportunity to counter the trend and accellerate healthy societal alternatives we should act or vote, if that's the best or only option, accordingly.
pretty simple solution - gold standard. Fiat money is the problem, and the Cantilon effect that naturally occurs because of it. Government prints money, it goes to the chosen few, who inflate the USD price of real assets, like houses, cars, farmland, equities.
Agreed with Thomas. Until then, as I’m fond of saying, there are no collective solutions, only individual ones. But people inevitably need to understand what’s happening at the collective level, too. Hopefully, I contribute to that in some small way.
pressure builds until we have a 1776, 1865 or 1991 event. I much prefer the rather bloodless 1991-style myself, but I suspect it will be a lot more like 1865. Until then, build family.
You started this essay off with only 5% of those under 30 have achieved the American dream and how the other 95% are discouraged blah blah. Heads up peoples; they’re not supposed to get the American dream that early in their young, obviously entitled lives.
Thanks, Bill. Obviously, I wouldn’t expect most people under 30 to have achieved the American Dream yet. Definitely not in this day and age.
But you know what? In the past, many of them did.
In 1950, about 52% of 30-year-old Americans had both a family and a home. By 1990, it was 43%. Today, it’s about 15%.
I think that should tell you something. It certainly does tell me... including the importance of looking at these trends over time before making up my mind about what’s really going on.
Ya would agree with you that there is huge entitlement among the youth… a Mercedes is no longer a symbol of wewlth where every punk has one because daddy made it easy… but oets be honest… think have changed for the worse and things changed drastically…
Of course. Is that news to anyone? Wish we read more about solutions and investment opportunities. And forget about universal basic income …that’s just welfare on steroids and a talk billionaires give to wash themselves.
P.S. Also, Sandra, just to make sure, are you getting the monthly issues, investment recommendations, and alerts from the paid side? I ask because you mentioned wanting to see more investment opportunities, and every so often those emails land in someone’s spam folder. You can also find everything on the website. Just make sure you’re signed in with the same email address you used to subscribe.
Thanks, Sandra. You’d be surprised how many people look at the rise of democratic socialism and seem to think it just materialized out of thin air.
As for UBI, I didn’t talk about it in this piece. But I have written about it before (one example below). I do think we’ll eventually get some form of UBI, and that it will make a large part of the population even more dependent on politicians and the state. Which, of course, is exactly how they’ll like it.
It has always been fairly obvious to me that leftist politicians go out of their way to enact legislation that helps eliminate more of the middle class, and for this very reason. As the state grows, the people shrink in stature, prosperity, and independence. Green theocracy is a magnificent catalyst in doing so. If anyone wants proof, for example, try building your own house and navigate the regulatory impediments and costs involved.
planned demolition
The middle class home in the 60s did not have sidewalks. It did not have streetlights every close as today. ?Many had drainage ditches . Bathroom exhaust fans did not exist. No g f c outlets. Most neighborhoods did not have concrete curbs. When you build a new home today , the government says you have to spend a certain percentage on landscaping. It's a big percentage. Very costly. I have my pictures with my father and my older siblings in a wheelbarrow barrel.When you finally had enough money to plant trees in bushes. That adds value and increases your property tax. .. The housing crisis is simply government excess regulation and taxes.That's it. Builders can't build a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom house anymore.Because the overhead is simply too expensive.
Interesting stats here Lau and they certainly go a long way in describing the diminished expectations many young (and not so young) people must be feeling today. Sadly, there’s also a lack of perspective when it comes to buying into socialism or communism as a solution. Social comparison in wealthy western countries leads to an amplified feeling of relative deprivation. Nothing an education in the last hundred years of world history or a month in Cuba wouldn’t cure. Knowledge about the reality of communism would certainly help in motivating a person to look for a solution other than one with a track record of misery and failure. Personally, I think the fix could come with three changes: Term limits, sound money, and a flat tax on income. In that order.
Check the statement
"As I write this, the American middle class is 51% of the adult population. In 1971, it was 61%."
Shouldn't it be 43%, not 51?
Regardless, it's a helpful post to explain the rise of pre-Socialism.
I would push back on the thesis that "AI is coming directly for many of the white-collar jobs". That is not what I've seen. No one loses their job because of AI. Instead AI has allowed companies to accomplish significantly more on much shorter timescales than without it. Recent job numbers (arguably, these numbers mix a lot of trends together) suggests that labor participation is strong.
The problem with the shrinkage of the middle class rests clearly with the fiat monetary system. Real asset backed money would solve this rather quickly, but of course the US government would have to cut spending by 75%, which it won't do. It won't even cut spending 0.0001%. DOGE was run out of town for even suggesting that fraud exists.
Important points on the stress crushing the middle class. I don't know the answers, overall, but where any of us sees an opportunity to counter the trend and accellerate healthy societal alternatives we should act or vote, if that's the best or only option, accordingly.
pretty simple solution - gold standard. Fiat money is the problem, and the Cantilon effect that naturally occurs because of it. Government prints money, it goes to the chosen few, who inflate the USD price of real assets, like houses, cars, farmland, equities.
Agreed with Thomas. Until then, as I’m fond of saying, there are no collective solutions, only individual ones. But people inevitably need to understand what’s happening at the collective level, too. Hopefully, I contribute to that in some small way.
pressure builds until we have a 1776, 1865 or 1991 event. I much prefer the rather bloodless 1991-style myself, but I suspect it will be a lot more like 1865. Until then, build family.
You started this essay off with only 5% of those under 30 have achieved the American dream and how the other 95% are discouraged blah blah. Heads up peoples; they’re not supposed to get the American dream that early in their young, obviously entitled lives.
Thanks, Bill. Obviously, I wouldn’t expect most people under 30 to have achieved the American Dream yet. Definitely not in this day and age.
But you know what? In the past, many of them did.
In 1950, about 52% of 30-year-old Americans had both a family and a home. By 1990, it was 43%. Today, it’s about 15%.
I think that should tell you something. It certainly does tell me... including the importance of looking at these trends over time before making up my mind about what’s really going on.
Ya would agree with you that there is huge entitlement among the youth… a Mercedes is no longer a symbol of wewlth where every punk has one because daddy made it easy… but oets be honest… think have changed for the worse and things changed drastically…
Of course. Is that news to anyone? Wish we read more about solutions and investment opportunities. And forget about universal basic income …that’s just welfare on steroids and a talk billionaires give to wash themselves.
P.S. Also, Sandra, just to make sure, are you getting the monthly issues, investment recommendations, and alerts from the paid side? I ask because you mentioned wanting to see more investment opportunities, and every so often those emails land in someone’s spam folder. You can also find everything on the website. Just make sure you’re signed in with the same email address you used to subscribe.
Thanks, Sandra. You’d be surprised how many people look at the rise of democratic socialism and seem to think it just materialized out of thin air.
As for UBI, I didn’t talk about it in this piece. But I have written about it before (one example below). I do think we’ll eventually get some form of UBI, and that it will make a large part of the population even more dependent on politicians and the state. Which, of course, is exactly how they’ll like it.
https://www.snafuinvesting.com/p/ai-wont-just-take-your-job-it-will