Comments by "Rune of Svalbard" (@vladimirofsvalbard9477) on "Michael Bordenaro" channel.

  1. Even if you make $40/hr; assuming it's a 40 hour work week. It's $83,000 per year, which is difficult to live on in most metro areas. Not impossible, but it's not a job to build a family on. In 2019 $40 an hour was the definition of a 'success story'.
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  2. You're creating VALUE my son! lol
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  3. Well, they want you to take a pay-cut and work harder the older you get, duh! lol Faster Grandpa or I'll take your healthcare away! XD
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  4. Personally, I intentionally misplace items at the grocery or retail store. By doing so, I am creating jobs.
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  5. That's what happens when you give UTRA-low interest rates and allow limitless speculation. People buy up properties and treat them like a permanent (cash-cow) with no effort. The ZERO percent interest rates over the last 20 years have give people the impression that they can routinely make 50% APY on all their investments. Tell them to accept 10% APY and they'll kill themselves. This isn't just an economic issue; it's a cultural problem. (Me-me-me, now-now-now).
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  6.  @user-sd8ec5xx5h  As much as I dislike Biden, I have a hard time understanding the 'blame Biden for the economy' comments. There's not a whole lot of reasoning with blaming Biden. Perhaps his 'student loan' shenanigans aided in inflation getting worse, but to blame him for everything is nonsensical. 80% of everything happening is fallout from (lockdowns, Federal Reserve policy, and Trump Administration policy).
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  7. I wouldn't move to St. Louis if you paid me to. The city is absolutely filled with criminals.
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  8. I like the idea of tariffs, but under the current circumstances I see many problems occurring. In the current economic environment, you would probably have to push a 75-150% tariff against imported goods before their manufacturers would even think about coming back to the US. Now if consumers stop buying those imports (after the added cost); then the manufacturer loses profits. However, at the same time consumers will be further constricted to domestic items (which means significantly higher costs). As long as the exporter can absorb the loss in sales; nothing will change and inflation will go up again. We're stuck between a rock and a hard place. We cannot continue importing cheap products and foreign labor. However, we will also burden consumers with higher costs regardless. Even IF the manufacturer moves back to the US. They have to pay American wages while they circumvent those tariffs. So your costs will go up well beyond 10%. Now, with the FED cutting interest rates as well. I can guarantee we're looking at another round of inflation come 2026/2027.
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  9. Yep! This happened when I worked as an excavation plumber years ago. They get you in the door with the idea you'll make $1200 a week. Your first day, the work schedule has you believe it will be $900 this week, but it will rebound in a month. Two weeks later, you get your first pay stub for $442 for 45 hours (all based on commission). I had 2 minute conversation with the manager, then dropped my stuff off at the table and left.
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  10. Owning anything these days is like leasing a piece of nationalized (socialist) land. I use that analogy because the day that legislators made 'property taxes' legal; all the land in the US was nationalized. You do not own anything!
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  11. I stopped applying to new job postings after I didn't hear back from the 30th one. I even called 4 breweries in town to see if they needed additional workers. Every single one told me that they weren't hiring.
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  12. Well, to be brutally honest, there's what; over a million real-estate agents. Most of which sell 0 or 1 property per year? Maybe it's too easy for people to get into this practice and it certainly inflates the push to buy homes, which have in turn pushed prices upward further.
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  13.  @bobs5596  I've noticed that idiots still keep buying brand new cars where I live. Repos will be insane in 2025.
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  14. I'm an Ohioan and I love Florida with all of my heart. But! I wouldn't touch Florida with a 100ft pole right now. Until the maintenance, infrastructure, pricing, and insurance issues with Florida change; I'd be paranoid to own property there. People will say that this isn't a political issue, but to a certain extent it is. Reagan-esque style leadership in the GOP has championed (out of control growth) for the last 40 odd years with the same result. People enjoy good jobs, good money, and good living for about 3-5 years. Then the fallout ensues when productivity/gdp fails to keep up with the continuously growing demand. Ultimately causing inevitable repeat recessions. On top of that, Florida's speculative economy in real-estate has caused a decades long string of maintenance problems. People want to milk the cow, but they don't want to put any profits into up-keep of the real-estate.
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  15. Sorry for your loss! Carry their memories on your shoulders, but don't give up! Stay busy and the grieving process will be better :)
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  16. Can't afford to be slaves actually. If people need to make a decision between a low wage and cutting liabilities so that somebody can stay home or work PT. That's what they're going to do. We have two economies! One for pensioners, government, and students; the other for working class people.
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  17. That's why you always choose a realtor that is FAMILY or close FRIENDS. Choosing anybody else is asking to get screwed. They will try to sell you the biggest house they can and duck on better deals to get higher commission. An agent you don't know, is an agent you can't trust.
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  18. I remember when my Grandpa was laid off in the early 2000s. He worked for a plastic molding company up near Akron, OH. Job, benefits, pension; gone! Just like that! Thankfully, he had a very lengthy set of friends and began a lawn-mowing business and made good money; mostly tax free. He was able to largely put off Social Security for himself and his wife for a while.
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  19. The new retirement is 'no debt' which includes 'no mortgage' lol
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  20. I think you're setting yourself up for disappointment. Your life is in your hands and the world is in the hands of the angry mob. Best you can do is stay out of their way every time they flip the table.
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  21.  @R.BOWERS  Tariffs are good if your standard of living is competitive with your exporter. US prices MUST come down if this were to work in a traditional sense. At the end of the day, they might as well do a sales tax; because that's all it will amount to.
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  22. Minimum wage is only an issue when labor is plentiful. Then businesses can cut employees to maintain certain profit margins. When labor is in short supply; they have no choice but to slim their profit margins to stay in business. Every corporation in the US is anticipating a bail-out; which is why they aren't playing by the rules.
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  23.  @RealSerie26  Centralizing everything has made communities complacent. Let them drum up the funds and stop letting the state and feds nanny everything inefficiently
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  24. Blame the corporations!
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  25. Yes, the greed of ordinary people above all else. Debt obligations drive inflation! If you give everybody 0% interest rates; they all go out and buy new stuff. This drives up the cost of living and all prices follow.
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  26. 1lb Petite Eye of Round - $7.00 5lb Bag of Potatoes - $4.00 2lb Bananas - $1.30 cents All can be found at Walmart. STOP eating out and stop getting fast food. You are wasting money and poisoning yourself. Take the Eye of Round; coat it in heavy salt and butter. Light it on fire (500F) on the grill for 1:30 each side; spoon extra butter on if necessary. Charred crunchy outside with medium rare juicy inside. Remove and serve! Peel and cut potatoes; fry in skillet with butter until soft. Salt and let cool. Eat a banana for desert! Tastes significantly better and is cheaper than industry garbage.
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  27. Greenville began going downhill long before the Covid wave began moving there from the Midwest. The lots are TINY, the traffic is ridiculous, and it's being taken over by corporate interests. If you want to move to a city with a strip-mall full of corporate leases and 2500sqft homes on 0.1 lots; then move to Greenville. My wife and I prospected that place back in 2022 and it was already being over-run with drama from Atlanta. It will most likely be the first place outside of Florida to have a massive foreclosure problem come 2025/2026. Real-estate prices are ridiculous (even compared to Florida), groceries prices are insane, and wages/contracts are 20% under national averages; completely unsustainable.
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  28. It's inevitable; Covid spending only expedited it. We are going to continue getting poorer as long as our largest export are US Dollars.
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  29. It won't budge prices until inventory massively increases and there are a lot of sellers and no buyers.
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  30.  @angie-xy5sf  Not down compared to 2020. Everything is easily still up 30-40% compared to pre-Covid inflation.
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  31. YOU are living paycheck to paycheck. YOUR landlord is living month to month. Your employer is living bailout to bailout. Your politicians are living war to war. The elites are living government to government.
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  32. Not likely, the system is imploding; not becoming stronger. We are more likely going to go into a currency default than have the Federal Government grow to strengths large enough to accomplish this.
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  33. It's always been a 'specific' demographic of US households. Typically they are city or state employees. I'm 30 and rather successful, but don't have retirement plans. Nobody in my family ever got to properly retire in the private sector. Almost all of them were laid off, then proceeded to maintain a paid off home and SS as their retirement. I know one guy (married) that has a UPS pension; he started in the 1980s. The rest of the successful retirees I know are all public sector; cops, firefighters, teachers, etc.
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  34. A bit off topic, but correlative imo. With the continuing immigration crisis; 8 million since 2020 and est. 30M illegal migrants inside the US. If amnesty is ever put back on the table and passes; the average American will never work a decent job again.
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  35.  @hoppeanofasgard1365  Well hyperinflation is when it hits over 100% I believe. But don't worry, it's on the way lol US debt obligations will ensure it. Thank a Boomer that won't give up their SS or Pension while pulling the ladder up.
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  36.  @DIVISIONINCISION  You act like saving for retirement was the same as it was in the 80s or 90s. If you had $500,000 in a 401k or 403b in 2019. You might now have $800,000, but your expenses doubled. Earnings/wages DO NOT keep up with prices. This is what happens in Keynesian economics when you have rising demand and reduced GDP/productivity. Sure, you could have saved enough to absorb most of the newer inflation. But eventually, inflation will eat everyone. If inflation outgrows wages, then eventually everybody will suffer (one block at a time; up the income scale).
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  37. Yeah, got my CDL in 2019 and it was amazing. I left in mid 2020, but how is it now? It was pretty easy to get pay back in 2019, but is it really bad these days?
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  38. Millennial here! Bought my first in 2020. I didn't realize how large a bullet I dodged.
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  39. Believe me, it's nearly impossible to get a job. Go apply to any McDonalds; the won't hire you. FedEx and Amazon pulled their package handlers hiring over 6 months ago. Not hiring anywhere in central Ohio or 100 mile radius. Times are scary!
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  40. My wife and I make six figures. We've almost entirely cut out restaurants. Not ONLY are they more expensive, but they've been adding a significant amount of carcinogenic additives to food; carrageenan, hydrogenated soy, natural 'lab' flavors, and msg's out the wazoo. They are desperately trying to enslave their consumers that can't afford to keep going out.
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  41. Well, you're ignoring a very basic concept. Bigger cost of living = needing more money to finance it. It's the same reason food prices go up with real-estate and auto-markets. You're logic dictates that I should make the same amount that I made in 1990 because of a 'linear' principle.
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  42. Property taxes effectively mean that all the property of the US has been nationalized. The Supreme Court REALLY took a nap on this one.
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  43.  @perseus-t7m  Same! We were actually going to move to Florida in 2022. I love it there, but things need to change. It's not a price or weather friendly place to raise children.
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  44.  @rareroots  Give me an example? High interest rates are not a 'Biden policy' if that's what you mean.
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  45. Plus, 'unemployment insurance fraud' - that's a major one most people are unaware of.
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  46. Social Security recipients got screwed on the COLA adjustments the last several years. 9.1% inflation? Here's a 6% raise Grandma! 7.5% inflation? Here's a 3% raise Grandma! Unfortunately, Social Security is going to fail due to natural trends in demographic changes. I hope everybody now understands why Keynesian economics is pathetic. Permanent inflation and permanent growth work very well; until they don't.
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  47. This is because the entire market has become speculative. Betting has become more lucrative than producing anything and it seems to give most people better odds in the end. The Trojan horse in this whole mess is the Federal Reserve's faith in the unemployment numbers. I am technically employed by five different companies; three of which I haven't made a profit from in over a year. You can thank the gig markets for that! They have allowed people to work side jobs, but at the cost of damaging the value of labor and distorting unemployment rates. Unemployment NEEDS to be re-engineered to include a certain threshold of income per year. If you counted the number of people over 18 that were unable to afford the bottom 25% of rent prices, utilities, and goods. Then you'd actually have an unemployment rate of around 10%. The reason inflation keeps going up the last several months is because of people continuing to max out their credit cards AND small-large caps speculating on all industries of the market. People tend to gamble a lot more when they lose their jobs.
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  48. Because you probably have student loans or personal loans that are holding you back. Am I wrong?
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  49. Back in my day = (back when I was born in the capital of the world, where our currency could afford ANYTHING, and we could live off one income). Then concludes we had to struggle. Imo, people need to hold Boomers feet to the fire more often. They are the generation that on average got the equivalent of a $20k gift from their parents after graduating high school, got to smoke and drink to their life's content, stole valor from the Silent Generation that fought in Vietnam, got to buy a house for 2 years worth of income, and also got to invest in the stock market in 87, 00, 08, and 2020 during their peak years. Yes, the generation that got their assets for peanuts and made it harder for younger generations by inflating their assets thru currency devaluation really worked hard for their livelihoods. Believe it or not, I don't have a problem with it. Just stop pretending that bootstraps got your there and start admitting you were born at the right time.
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  50. Ohio is still largely steady
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  51. Well, based on the road name alone; Miami, FL - Atlantic Heights
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  52. Well prices come down periodically and elastic prices tend to rebound quite routinely. However, once a recession hits and prices lower; those prices go back up to their previous highs within 18 months. After that, they keep going up.
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  53. Property tax = nationalized property Where the hell is SCOTUS on this issue?
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  54.  @DIVISIONINCISION  I do live below my means. Why you would make such a comment is unnecessary and arrogant. I don't understand the passive aggressiveness at the end. Btw, your wages do not keep up with inflation; even with you working from tax dollars. You are going to (on average) get paid below market value and CPI inflation will never be assigned to your wage increases. I would ask anyone to show me a job (private or public) that assigned a wage increase that reflected a (YoY inflation rate). Ask people in medical professions if their wages are growing linear with inflation. There is a fundamental reason why your wages cannot grow with such large inflation. It all comes back to the Keynesian model. As long as GDP/productivity are not growing with debt obligation; it's nearly impossible.
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  55.  @SomeUserNameBlahBlah  Yes, but the tariffs will probably make it worse. Not like we had a choice. It's either death by inflation or death by deflation. There's no way out.
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  56. Well, that's what happens when you give out low-rate debts and don't export anything anymore. Keynesian economics 101! If productivity and GDP don't keep up with debt obligations; prices rise and wages stagnate. This actually creates an even worse incentive for 'gambling and speculation'. Which further drives up demand and reduces supply.
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  57.  @jackwilson3121  I live in Ohio; my home insurance was $1213; up from $550 in 2021.
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  58. So, if these landlords aren't attracting renters or vacationers to stay at their properties. How are they continuing to pay the mortgage on those condos?
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  59. Sometimes getting fired is a blessing. Many people stay bonded to unhealthy jobs just like they stay glued to unhealthy screens. When the job dies or fires you. Many times it motivates you to downsize, get a better job, or change your life in a manner that is more conducive for happiness.
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  60. Try 18% You wouldn't believe how many people are now on SNAP and income assistance. I come from a blue collar town and it's turned into a welfare town.
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  61.  @Koi_to_Dragon  Yeah, if you cross-examine all forms of unemployment data, especially U-6. It's roughly 15-18%. If you don't consider 'running DoorDash' twice a week for income as (employed). Then it's probably more like 25%. The data doesn't even take government benefits into account.
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  62. Pretty easy to look-up, even on Zillow records.
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  63. More proof that civilizations of scale are a perversions of natural law AND only sustainable thru con-artistry and government wealth transfers. The bigger it gets; the bigger the inequalities get. If you have 10 laborers in a vacuum; 3 of them do HALF the work. If you have 1,000,000 laborers in a vacuum; 1000 of them do HALF the work. The problem is pretty self-evident as you get bigger. The middle class must be squeezed harder and harder to sustain the necessities of the bottom and the greed of the top.
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  64. It's because Boomer assets tripled since 2020, so they have money to complain that nobody is working to slave away to their needs.
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  65.  @sir-beventon  That's an oxymoron, you can't increase wages and make things cheaper at the same time. Reducing prices naturally raises the value of your current wage. I think what you mean is (increase GDP) and reduce prices; supply and demand fundamentals. The reason prices are so high is because programs like SS, Medicare, and Pensions are forming an economic bubble where old investments are being propped up by excessive printing in order for retirements to function. If they didn't, then elderly people would be made poor long ago by their initial investments. Interest rates are everything. If you allow people to take cheapo-loans; then demand will run amuck (like it did 2020-2022) and prices will rise. Anytime there is a surge in demand with a finite amount of production; prices rise. Same thing in the housing market. People can blame Blackrock all they want, but it was people that went out and bought up houses and condos in order to speculate them on sites like AirBNB.
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  66.  @blackworldtraveler3711  I don't think people assume that. I think many are simply acknowledging that employer behavior is the worst we've seen in our lifetimes. I've never seen this level of corruption, fraud, and lack of professionalism. Even employers in healthcare are 'ghosting' applicants in an interview process. It's the dirtiest thing I've ever seen. On top of that, they are stealing your data and defrauding their unemployment insurance dues with the 'ghost' positions they're posting.
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  67. A recession is 2 quarters of negative growth. This means that 2022 Q3 was the only recession since 2008. We are not in a recession, because it doesn't fit the original definition.
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  68.  @JK-ks3xq  Yes and then we had positive GDP. So there was a recession in Q3 of 2022, but not since then.
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  69. Well, 2008 was induced by greedy bankers. The current real-estate fiasco is being induced by a pathetically incompetent administration. It was the Biden Admin that pressured Fannie Mae to drop their standards.
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  70. It's unemployment insurance fraud. They create ghost jobs so they can pump up their (employment to job vacancy ratio) that they provide to each state. This allows them to tout 'big job numbers' and get a tax-deduction towards the state unemployment fund. HR are given directions to perform 'interview' quotas so that the state can't prosecute them for fraud. On top of that, the economy sucks.
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  71.  @PresidentCamacho2024  Not exactly, the US tax revenue never entered a deficit in those years. The last deficit in revenue was in 2010. I don't like when people perpetuate this myth because it's mathematically false. Of all the things I dislike about Trump; this isn't one of them. While I'm in disagreement of lowering corporate taxes to 21%. I did like that progressive income taxes were lowered. Most people in the middle class had a $2-3k reduction on their annual taxes. Taxes on capital gains didn't really change. So billionaires didn't really get any benefit; it was largely fortune 500 companies.
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  72. The moment property taxes became legal, property was no longer private; it was nationalized. It's been my conclusion that we've been living in a socialist country for decades now.
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  73. They're all destroying it bud. Gatekeeping and cronyism is the name of the game.
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  74. @stevemorlock5366 To be honest, there's nothing you CAN do about it. In order to stop to debt crisis; Medicare/SS have to be reformed. They will NEVER do it! Boomers would rather run it dry and leave their children with nothing than take a benefits cut or tax hike. If people aren't willing to sacrifice something; they'll lose it all entirely.
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  75. Prices are so ridiculous that people are switching from Walmart to Aldi lol
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  76.  @bobcortez9471  Well, that's the old theory and I would have agreed with you ten years ago perhaps. The problem is that these companies will continue to diminish wages and benefits because if the company fails; they can cash in their 'options' and claim bankruptcy. They have ZERO incentive to do the right thing. Take DoorDash for example. They offered 3.50 basepay back in the day; then it slowly depreciated to $1.50/$2.00. The company made bigger profits and their entire company runs on Dashers that have less than 3 months experience. Almost nobody sticks around long term because it's unsustainable as a means of work.
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  77.  @bobcortez9471  If minimum wage is abolished, then debt has to be restricted. Low interest debts for individuals and companies allows for very high price speculation and price fluctuation due to a higher demand of buyers. This is how you get rising prices and stagnating wages. Many of these companies will use these methods to raise prices on their products, but cheat employees out of compensation for inflation or cost of living. It's all a dirty game with big business.
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  78. It's unemployment insurance fraud. They create ghost jobs so they can pump up their (employment to job vacancy ratio) that they provide to each state. This allows them to tout 'big job numbers' and get a tax-deduction towards the state unemployment fund. HR are given directions to perform 'interview' quotas so that the state can't prosecute them for fraud. On top of that, the economy sucks.
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  79. Strange economy if you ask me. There aren't many jobs available due to demand destruction, higher interest rates, lay-offs etc. FedEx Ground and Amazon have removed most of their package-handler positions across the US. They reposted the same position in Grove City, OH since 2011 and have always needed people. No that position no long exists. At the same time, go try and offer work at $20, $25, or even $30/hr. No takers. I've been trying to get 4 tons of rock and asphalt out of my rear driveway for the last year now; no takers. I'd do it myself, but the rental prices for a local dump were stupid high.
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  80. XD lol
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  81.  @SerErryk  Yep, if you voted for Trump or Biden; then you participated. Just being honest here... People need to take their primaries more seriously. The current environment in the US is why many countries have compulsory voting laws.
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  82. Yep! Same here! I lost a number of family during Covid. Others turned to drugs/alcoholism and marriages got recked. The next nail in the coffin is people losing their jobs. It's like 2008, except it's worse, and it's in slow motion.
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  83. Not exactly! The FED is pre-cutting rates in anticipation of unemployment jumping upwards. They are trying to avoid a recession entirely by introducing more inflation. It's the dumbest thing I've ever seen. Anybody that knows anything about economics will tell you 'you CAN'T spend your way out of a debt crisis'. These politicians and bankers don't care. They only care about protecting their inflated assets while they're still alive. Leaving younger generations high and dry.
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  84.  @phaedrus2633  Maybe they thought that property rights would be construed by (future Marxists) that the government should guarantee properties via nationalization. Who knows. I'm still not sure how this is a capitalist country with private property if you have to pay annual taxes; less it be taken away.
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  85. Well, you have to consider the side effects all around. Look at what happened in Texas, Florida, and Kansas. They abolished state income tax right before Covid. So when inflation hit; it hit REALLY hard because those deficits fell onto the budget and they had to be adjusted thru property taxes. While the Midwest saw their property taxes double, many places in Texas and the others saw triple and quadruple. That's why it's become almost impossible to live as a resident in Florida, Texas, or Kansas. The taxes on residents are insane. Why aren't they floating the idea of a sales tax so that the burden falls on over-consumption and tourism?
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  86.  @lisagardner903  I'm no fan of Biden, but how do you rationalize that Biden did this? The shutdowns, PPP loans, and printing $8 Trillion did this. Trump appointed Powell and he set rates to 0.25% Biden's largest fault was that he exacerbated inflation with student loan forgiveness promises. Trump was a major part of this problem. Not to mention his continuation of Obama's sanctions in South America and Asia that he tripled down on.
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  87. It won't change anything; a whopping 2% of single-family homes are owned by corporations.
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  88. Blame the corporations; they're the ones giving the FED bad data. It's unemployment insurance fraud. They create ghost jobs so they can pump up their (employment to job vacancy) that they provide to each state. This allows them to tout 'big job numbers' and get a tax-deduction towards the state unemployment fund. HR are given directions to perform 'interview' quotas so that the state can't prosecute them for fraud. On top of that, the economy sucks.
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  89. I remember when $15/hr was good money. I moved out on that pay in 2017.
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  90. It's unemployment insurance fraud. They create ghost jobs so they can pump up their (employment to job vacancy ratio) that they provide to each state. This allows them to tout 'big job numbers' and get a tax-deduction towards the state unemployment fund. HR are given directions to perform 'interview' quotas so that the state can't prosecute them for fraud. On top of that, the economy sucks.
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  91. The downturn came in November of 2022. If you're working a W-2 or even in trades; you've most likely felt it. For those of you in healthcare or a niche market that are still successful; I commend you! Here's the thing, everybody is wonder (when does the recession or depression come?) When do the prices start to crash? Remember, crashes don't happen until the re-financing phase of interest rate cuts. When that happens, new loan contracts reshape consumer and employer spending habits to pay the banks. That's why crashes always happen 3-6 months after the FED's cut rates during an economic downturn.
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  92. Michael and Brian at ClearValue are my favorites!
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  93.  @crabbyhayes1076  Two consecutive quarter of 'negative' GDP growth. By that definition, Q2/Q3 of 2022 were a recession and we haven't been in one since. Keyword, 'negative GDP'. (1%, 2%, 3%, 2%, 1%, 0.5%) - not a recession (1%, 2%, -3%, -2%, 1%, 0.5%) - recession
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  94.  @Mitzi73  Mass incompetence thru a bunch of competing bureaucracies. It's not planned; government sucks at everything.
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  95.  @deltadawn1581  Well, interest paying on public debt alone are a death sentence. Even IF we don't have a failed bond auction. This has become a speculative market, which is why anybody producing actually products is largely losing out. This will ultimately be a gamblers market for then next decade OR however long the currency continues to last under the FED.
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  96.  @ADadSupreme  Yes, the US is physically and agriculturally safe; for the most part. However, if the USD implodes; it's game over for all government currencies. When Rome fell, the entire world tribalized. Which led to the dark ages and a large number of lost wisdom and technologies. Considering that the digital technology is impermeable. This may be a good thing for the global economy; at least in the long run. A destabilization of the USD would crush the existing corporate hierarchy that is controlling the west We are designed to live as a tribal species one way or another. The ONLY way civilizations of size can be maintained; is on the backs of slavery. Whether that is chains, votes, foreign cheap labor is entirely dependent on the geo-politics. Think about it using pareto distributions or prices law. If you have 10 employees; 3 of them do half the work. This is manageable and the designation of labor is much more flexible. But, if you have 1,000,000 employees; 1000 of them do half the work. Which means the productivity deficit has to be supplemented by the more competent workers AND most importantly a larger entity (the US Government) that supplements other needs of the company and workers; basically individual and corporate welfare. Corporations cannot exist without big-government.
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  97.  @ADadSupreme  A housing crash is different from a failed bond auction. If the FED starts buying them to prevent a failure; we go into hyperinflation. Interest is already 13% of the US budget. This is why they are importing millions of migrants. It's the only thing on a 'technical' scale that could stimulate enough GDP to prevent it.
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  98. Yep, new world; Americans don't create anything. Prices have to come down in order for that to happen.
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  99. We haven't been in a recession since Q3 of 2022.
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  100. It's unemployment insurance fraud. They create ghost jobs so they can pump up their (employment to job vacancy ratio) that they provide to each state. This allows them to tout 'big job numbers' and get a tax-deduction towards the state unemployment fund. HR are given directions to perform 'interview' quotas so that the state can't prosecute them for fraud. On top of that, the economy sucks.
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  101. It's unemployment insurance fraud. They create ghost jobs so they can pump up their (employment to job vacancy ratio) that they provide to each state. This allows them to tout 'big job numbers' and get a tax-deduction towards the state unemployment fund. HR are given directions to perform 'interview' quotas so that the state can't prosecute them for fraud. On top of that, the economy sucks.
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  102.  @michellebatzel5809  How? 2014-2019 you could have found a job anywhere. 2023 was the first year since 2008-2010 that FedEx, Amazon, and UPS began removing their warehousing positions in places like Columbus, Chicago, and Pittsburg. You could get plenty of jobs until the end of 2022 rolled in.
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  103. Putin isn't going to launch a nuke bud. This entire fiasco is about NATO installing corporate control into Ukraine and Russia losing political and monetary control. Blackrock owns virtually all the construction contracts. When the war is over, you'll see condos go up all over Ukraine to rent to the Joneses'.
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  104. Hyper-inflation is inevitable at this point and it will probably begin in the 2030s imo. The US Government CANNOT allow deflation like 1929 or 2008. If they did, then Social Security, Medicare, and Pensions would collapse. Their only course of action is a continuation of high inflation. Get ready for some rate cutes and more printing $$$. Inflation round 2 will be here 2026/2027.
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  105. Yep! The FED will never allow deflation, because it would crush Social Security and other benefits. Inflation has to continue.
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  106.  @p.granger8824  Nobody thought war with Germany was a possibility in the 1930s. The US will go to war with anybody that they can leverage as their 'fall guy' for a debt crisis. That's what they do!
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  107.  @frenchfred3  It isn't great?
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  108. Yep! This is why voters are splitting into (University/Administrative) and (Labor).
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  109. Yep, Walmart's (5lb Ground Beef - $14.98 back in December). Yesterday, it was $18.98/ 5lb.
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  110. It's unemployment insurance fraud. They create ghost jobs so they can pump up their (employment to job vacancy ratio) that they provide to each state. This allows them to tout 'big job numbers' and get a tax-deduction towards the state unemployment fund. HR are given directions to perform 'interview' quotas so that the state can't prosecute them for fraud. On top of that, the economy sucks.
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  111. Economy is bad, but that doesn't mean everyone is suffering. The people complaining the most are the people that have massive student loan debt on top of a mortgage they got in 2022-2023.
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  112.  @kokomo9764  What should we derive from the numbers that others are not?
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  113. Banking needs to be SOLELY conducted by each state bank and the Treasury; plus keep tight restrictions and standards on how to be approved for that debt. I like RFK's ideo on Federalizing mortgages at a flat 3.00% rate. All of your home loans get sold to Fannie Mae regardless. However, those bankers continue to scoot regulations so they can make massive profits on risky borrowers.
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  114. Not exactly! Many of these jobs are being turn into part time, but the real problem is unemployment insurance fraud. They are creating ghost jobs and interview quotas so that they can qualify for a tax deferment in each state collecting insurance premiums for the unemployment fund.
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  115. It's not easy to find a job anywhere these days. The only jobs looking for people are (Medical, Police, Fire, and state contract construction projects. The rest of the free market is scary.
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  116. Bananas and Potatoes are cheap. 49c per pound of bananas $3.58 for a 5lb bag of potatoes People have spending problems; that's the issue.
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  117.  @WA-de3gf  Yep, we voted for Trump and he appointed Jerome Powell. The rest showed itself from 2021-2023.
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  118.  @murphthesurf3409  FED will never allow deflation to occur. If anything, it will be a slow death by high inflation; 20-50% every 2-3 years.
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  119.  @carolbagwell6769  Well, eggs are an 'elastic' item. Large volume of sales and large swings in supply and demand; this can make prices very unpredictable.
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  120. The jokes on the consumer! These companies have already secured your money thru SNAP and EBT. Walmart loves using those as both wage supplements AND profits.
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  121. The older I get the more true this is. I'm glad I learned it soon rather than later. I'm 30 and married. I watched both my parents and elders break their backs while neglecting their kids; full time for nearly 30 years raising two kids a decade apart in age. Now they are on all types of medications, they are sickly, pale, and falling apart in every way imaginable at only 56. I realized when I was about 14 that they were living a delusion. By that time, I'd already figured out that college was a scam, pensions were gone, and assets were getting farther and farther away from people's grasp. I got to see first hand how 2008 impacted my parents, but the delusions never ended. They just kept doing it like good little worker bees. The money was never spent on anything meaningful and I actually became disgusted when my parents started to try and throw money at both of us as we got older. Indulging in endless income for selfish means and giving no love or care to us. It eventually became clear that they were trying to throw money in order to buy love and compliance by 18. After that, I decided to do the opposite of whatever they advised. I ended up extremely successful and had my first child. To this day, I cannot fathom the greedy and complacency that drove Boomers and older Gen X into doing what they did. Generations that never wanted for anything and constantly kept 3 cars in the driveway for nearly 40 years.
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  122. I love going to Florida bud; that doesn't mean it's a paradise as far as cost goes. Property tax and insurance are insane. If there is going to be a recession; Florida will lead the charge. It grew too fast too soon after 2020. a significant amount of your debt generation went to Florida.
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  123. Thanks for the info btw! I've been passively looking to move south to Florida, but the costs/insurance in Fort Myers/Tampa is stupid. I'll take a peak at Ocala and other areas a bit further north. Have a wonderful day :)
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  124. People try to complicate this, but it's actually rather simple. The Federal Reserve write 'blank checks' to the Treasury and controls interest rates. In a Keynesian economy; both inflation and growth must be linear to maintain an equilibrium in purchasing power. When USD printing outperforms productivity/exports; your wage value decreases. The reason real-estate and vehicles nearly doubled in price over the last four years is all due to the demand curve. The Federal Reserve set interest rates to 0.25% in 2020. After that, everybody and their brother went out and bought a new home and a new car. When there are more buyers than sellers; prices go up! When the cost of living goes up; groceries follow. If you print a bunch of money and give it as (cheap-loans) to the average American. They will go out and inflate the economy! And since nothing is actually 'growing' in any real sense; your wages stagnate.
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  125. Corporations are cooking the books that they are reporting to the FEDs. Inflation is largely up out of desperation. If the FED is maintaining high interest in an economy that is essentially dead. If you though the 2020 bailouts were bad; just wait until 2025. Inflation will be significantly worse in 2026/2027.
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  126. Well, I wish it was that simple. Debt to GDP is the reason people can't afford anything. Demographic based spending is inflating assets like Pensions, SS, and Medicare. So as long as that's the case; prices go up and wages stagnate.
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  127. I'm a millennial, I was told at 16 (don't expect to ever get SS). SO I think many of us have planned accordingly because of that. The entire economy feels like a pyramid scheme. The people doing nothing get 98% of the money and YOU get the other 2%.
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  128. True, but we're not in a recession; even by the old metrics.
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  129. Exactly! The data is bs because the corporation are giving the FED fake data.
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  130. I doubt it! This is mass incompetence as we've seen from both the Trump and Biden Admin. They shut down the economy and then printed $8 Trillion. High end boomers got rich and everybody else got screwed. The Federal Government is so broken; they don't have the logistics for anything right now. They simply take your tax dollars and spend them on a sinking ship.
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  131. All millennial wealth pooled together still have insane inequalities in contract to previous generations. If Baby Boomers at the same age had roughly a 60% share between the upper quartile and the bottom three. For millennials, it's more like 20%. An INSANE amount of wealth is concentrated at the top quartile of millennials (within their own generation).
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  132.  @chuckhancock3152  Hence, why I said 'it began going downhill long before the Covid wave'. It just made prices worse and populations denser.
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  133.  @rosanneallen-hewlett9973  Social Security, Medicare, Pensions, and bonds would collapse. Deflation would occur and states would implement a new currency backed by a regional economies
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  134. Top THREE Issues! 1. Jobs/Economy 2. Healthcare 3. Social Security/Medicare You have to seriously be living in a bubble to think that social issues or even abortion is anywhere at the top. This election is ultimately going to come down to LABOR vs. University/Administrative voters.
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  135.  @bovnycccoperalover3579  Most people end up working harder for longer which results in more medical issues. It's not worth it to wait until 67 for the majority of the population. Unless you have a low-stress or 'paced' job that has a 401k or 403b coming in due time; you should honestly take SS around 63-65. It's not worth the additional health hassles when you claim at 67-72 because that extra money gets eaten VERY fast.
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  136. Why oh why would you buy that poison? lol
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  137. Survivor bias of course. I've noticed the arrogant people are either full-time on a corporate ladder or retired. They're delusional and will be lucky to get a job at McDonalds if they get laid off.
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  138. It's always been that way due to physics. Pareto distributions get squeezed as time goes on and Price's law puts too much weight on the bottom. It's simply inevitable unless a reset happens every so often. There's no magical way to force equity onto everyone and everything. Every system will dilate and contract until it implodes. The type of system determines how long that takes. This is why I say that 'large scale civilization' is a perversion of the human species. We can only truly function properly at a municipal/community level.
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  139. It IS illegal, but you can't prove it because these companies are smart. It's unemployment insurance fraud. They create ghost jobs so they can pump up their (employment to job vacancy) that they provide to each state. This allows them to tout 'big job numbers' and get a tax-deduction towards the state unemployment fund. HR are given directions to perform 'interview' quotas so that the state can't prosecute them for fraud. On top of that, the economy sucks.
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  140. Fannie Mae already pre-established this new loan policy back in 2023 when the FED was still raising rates. Under the Biden Administration, they fully intended to roll out 40 years mortgages with 1-5% down payments for the new conventional policy. Now, I'm no economist, but it doesn't take one to know that this would skyrocket housing costs once interest rates get reversed. If you have a $300,000 home right now. It will easily by $400,000 come Spring 2028
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  141. It's certainly worse than 2008. Believe me, the FED will be forced to bail out the markets again. This talk of 'long-term high interest' is laughable. They risk a bond default by allowing this to even go another year. They'll cut rates and we'll do this circus all over again in 2026/2027 with high inflation. Bust your balls in 2025, because we'll be in the same garbage dump come 2028.
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