Money

John McCain’s Incoherent Questioning Of James Comey Shows Why We Need Term Limits

Does America really need a permanent ruling class of career politicians? According to Real Clear Politics, right now Congress has an average approval rating of just 18.8 percent. It is an institution that is dominated by politicians that are able to keep winning elections over and over again because they are extremely good at raising money. And our permanent ruling class of politicians has learned that it greatly pays to pander to the special interests and the wealthy donors that are able to inject large amounts of cash into their campaigns. This incestuous system produces many incumbents that are almost unbeatable, and the result is that some of these Congress critters end up staying in Washington much, much longer than they should. (Read More...)

One-Third Of All Americans Don’t Make Enough Money To Even Cover The Basic Necessities

Sad Child - Public DomainDo you remember the days when it seemed like almost everyone in America was middle class?  Unfortunately, those days are long gone and the grinding down of the middle class in the United States appears to be accelerating.  According to a brand new study that was just released by Pew Charitable Trusts, household spending increased by 14 percent between 2004 and 2014, but median household income decreased by 13 percent during that same time period.  Both of those figures were adjusted for inflation.  What this means is that the cost of living has steadily gone up, but our incomes have gone down.  In fact, as you will see below approximately one-third of all Americans don’t even make enough money to pay for the basic necessities at this point.  The middle class is being squeezed like never before, and very few of our leaders seem to care. (Read More...)

Housing Crash?: U.S. Existing Home Sales Fall By The Most In Six Years

Home For Sale - Public DomainWe just got more evidence that a major economic slowdown is underway here in the United States.  Existing home sales were down a whopping 7.1 percent during the month of February, and this represented the biggest decline that we have seen in six years.  This is yet another sign that we are in the early stages of a new crisis that is eerily reminiscent of what happened back in 2008.  The truth is that most U.S. consumers are tapped out, and when you are tapped out it is really hard to get a mortgage.  Banks aren’t really fond of lending money to people that can’t pay it back, and in recent years housing prices in many areas have risen to levels that are beyond the reach of most middle class families. (Read More...)

The American Dream Is Dead, And Now Even The Mainstream Media Is Starting To Admit It

Cemetary Graveyard - Public DomainAre you living “the American Dream”?  If so, you should consider yourself to be very fortunate, because most Americans are not.  In fact, as you will see below, a new survey has found that there is nowhere on the entire planet where the average wage earner is making enough money to live “the American Dream”.  Once upon a time, the United States had the largest and most prosperous middle class in the history of the world, but now the middle class makes up a minority of the population, 51 percent of all American workers make less than $30,000 a year, and poverty is growing rapidly.  The American Dream is essentially dead, and even the mainstream media is starting to figure this out. (Read More...)

The Rise Of The Temp Economy: More U.S. Employers Than Ever Want A ‘Disposable Workforce’

Disposable Workers - Public DomainIn this day and age it seems like almost everything is disposable, and many employers have found that they can make a lot more money if they have a workforce that can be turned on and off like a faucet. In America today, there are more than 17 million “independent workers”, and they represent a bigger share of the workforce than ever before. Federal laws give a lot of protection to “full-time workers”, but for temporary and contract employees it is a much different story. Temp workers don’t get health insurance, vacation time or retirement benefits. They are simply paid for the limited amount of time that they are needed and then they are disposed of immediately. There has always been a role for such workers in our economy, but these days some of the biggest corporations in the entire country are getting rid of “full-time workers” and replacing them with temp workers just so that they can make a few extra bucks. As a result, the ranks of the “working poor” continue to expand, and the decline of the middle class is accelerating. (Read More...)

20 Super Wealthy Individuals Have More Money Than The Poorest 152 Million Americans Combined

Wealthy - Public DomainDo we need any more evidence before we will finally admit that the middle class in America is being systematically destroyed? As you will see below, when you add together all of the wealth of the poorest 152 million Americans, it still falls short of the combined net worth of the 20 wealthiest Americans. This is a list that includes Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Mark Zuckerberg. To many, the core of the problem is that people like Gates and Buffett are making too much money. But I disagree. There is nothing wrong with working hard, building a company and making lots of money. The real problem is the fact that the bottom half of the country is steadily getting poorer. Once upon a time, this nation had the healthiest and most vibrant middle class in the history of the world, but now that middle class is dying. If we don’t do something about this, soon we may not have much of a middle class left. (Read More...)

Republican Operatives Plot To Sabotage Trump – But That Could Turn Him Into Their Worst Nightmare

Donald Trump At Podium - Photo by Michael VadonCould Donald Trump become the next Ross Perot?  Right now, there is a push by Republican insiders to try to find a way to sabotage the Trump campaign and even potentially exclude him from future debates.  These Republican operatives claim that he is “damaging the party”, but what they really mean by that is that he is playing havoc with their plans of getting Jeb Bush into the White House.  You see, the truth is that most of the other Republican candidates are just there for window dressing.  All of the big money is already lining up behind Jeb Bush, and his campaign recently announced that it has already raised 114 million dollars.  Perhaps Scott Walker or Marco Rubio have an outside chance of contending with the Bush machine, but everyone else is just supposed to be cannon fodder and most of them know it.  If everything goes to plan, Bush will clinch the nomination very early, and that is precisely the way that the Republican establishment wants it. (Read More...)

The Elite Have A Great Fear Of Death

Death Skull - Public DomainIf there is one thing that the elite of the world fear more than anything else, it is death.  They spend an extraordinary amount of time and energy attempting to shield themselves from potential threats, to separate themselves from the general population and to do whatever they can to extend their lifespans.  They travel with multiple bodyguards, they install “safe rooms” in their homes, they buy private islands on the other side of the world and they invest huge amounts of money into life extension technologies and research.  They do all of these things in a desperate attempt to battle an enemy that they have never been able to defeat – death.  And in this day and age, the elite are becoming more paranoid than ever.  They know that as the gap between the wealthy and the poor has exploded that they have become bigger targets than ever.  So firms that provide private security, “safe rooms” and high tech “security bunkers” for the elite are doing a booming business these days.  Many of the elite live in constant fear and absolutely crave security, and they are willing to pay big bucks to get it. (Read More...)