The Fruits of Progressive Labor: Median Incomes Peaked 50 Years Ago

Why America’s middle class is lost

Use the map to see when your county saw its median income peak. This is the fruit of the War on Poverty, 1965 immigration act, feminism and "free trade."

The Real Truth: Progressives Planned to Crush American Wages

Progressives are overseeing the final collapse stage of the American economy and they haven't put forth a single bill to grow the economy. Cuckservative leaders in Congress aren't proposing anything either because they're Progressives too, on board with the plan to destroy the middle class. Yes, this is planned.

From 2013: "We Are Going To Kill The Dollar" Says Obama Senior Official

How do you solve a problem when you are running a 10% fiscal deficit. You are not going to get growth in the absence of private sector demand. So the government's idea now is we are going to export our way out of this. When I asked a senior member of the Obama administration last week, 'how are we going to grow exports if we do not allow nominal wage deflation?', and he just said we're going to kill the dollar. It's a dead answer but that's where we're headed".

America isn't as competitive with a strong currency, terrible trade deals, bad tax policy, crippling regulations, metastasizing welfare states, etc. The U.S. dollar is rising because of where we are in the global economic/credit cycle. China is on the verge of a currency devaluation and emerging market currencies are already tumbling. Commodity prices are way down in the past year, the euro is still in trouble. Unable to push the dollar lower when pretty much the whole world is pushing the other way, something else has to give. The managers of America decided that something is wages. "We are going to kill American wages" might as well be what the Obama official said, cause that's the truth.

Hey look, Cecil the Lion!

A Letter to Stingy American Central Bankers

A Letter to Stingy American Consumers

Dear American Consumer,

This is The Wall Street Journal. We’re writing to ask if something is bothering you.

The sun shined in April and you didn’t spend much money. The Commerce Department here in Washington says your spending didn’t increase at all adjusted for inflation last month compared to March. You appear to have mostly stayed home and watched television in December, January and February as well. We thought you would be out of your winter doldrums by now, but we don’t see much evidence that this is the case.

You have been saving more too. You socked away 5.6% of your income in April after taxes, even more than in March. This saving is not like you. What’s up?

We know you experienced a terrible shock when Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008 and your employer responded by firing you. We know stock prices collapsed and that was shocking too. We also know you shouldn’t have taken out that large second mortgage during the housing boom to fix up your kitchen with granite countertops. You’ve been working very hard to pay off this debt and we admire your fortitude. But these shocks seem like a long time ago to us in a newsroom. Is that still what’s holding you back?

Do you know the American economy is counting on you? We can’t count on the rest of the world to spend money on our stuff. The rest of the world is in an even worse mood than you are. You should feel lucky you’re not a Greek consumer. And China, well they’re truly struggling there just to reach the very modest goal of 7% growth.

The Federal Reserve is counting on you too. Fed officials want to start raising the cost of your borrowing because they worry they’ve been giving you a free ride for too long with zero interest rates. We listen to Fed officials all of the time here at The Wall Street Journal, and they just can’t figure you out.

Please let us know the problem. You can reach us at any of the emails below.

Sincerely,

The Wall Street Journal’s Central Bank Team

-By Jon Hilsenrath

Dear Central Banker,

This is the productive American. We're writing to ask if something is wrong with you.

It has been 8 long years and you fuckers haven't been paying us any money on our deposits. Even your own economists say your interest payments don't even keep up with the meager inflation we're experiencing. You appear to have done nothing but fuck us over in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 as well. We wish you would have just stayed home. We thought we'd be getting some interest right now, but we don't see evidence that this is the case. In fact, in the back of our minds, we think you're lying when you say you'll raise rates.

We've been saving more lately. The American consumer has too, they saved 5.6% of their income in April after taxes, even more than in March. We heard you want to raise rates and even though we don't fully believe it, we're looking forward to earning interest again.

We know you experienced a terrible shock when Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008 and your patron responded by giving you trillions of dollars and more power over the economy. We know stock prices rebounded as a result and that did nothing to help us, and you seem to know that and not care. Frankly, we don't think you should have done that. But this all seems like a long time ago to us in America, but you're still refusing to hike those interest rates. What is holding you back?

Do you know the American producer and consumer are counting on you to raise rates? We can't count on the rest of the world to raise rates. The rest of the world is even more insane than you are. You should feel lucky we're not like Greek consumers who are ready to burn bankers at the stake. And China, well they're just getting started with QE as their own debt bubble implodes.

The whole world is counting on you to raise interest rates! Fed officials keep saying they'll raise rates, but never do it. We're starting to worry that you've been corrupted to the core and can't bring yourself to raise interest rates for fear of hurting your Wall Street friends. We listen to the American consumer all the time here and they think they've got you figured out.

For your sake and ours, I hope they're wrong.

Sincerely,

America's Workers, Savers & Entrepreneurs

Inside the War on Progress

Fascinating insight into the mentality driving the slow motion collapse of Western economies. The "managers" of the West are completely detached from science and economics as they pursue an impossible Utopia. The internal contradictions, or rather the chain of destructive logic, is right in the open. First, war on coal, which is mainly fought by cheap natural gas. Then, a war on fracking and a war on natural gas. At that point your cheap electricity is gone and your GDP will be struggling to increase. Next, flood the country will millions of low skilled immigrants whose presence alone drives up energy demand. All done via the power of rent-seeking, pagan Nature worship and ignorance. The icing on the cake is the climate change hysteria.

Politico: Inside the war on coal

There will be no formal surrender in the war on coal, no battleship treaty to mark the end. But Beyond Coal’s leaders believe they can finish most of their work setting the U.S. electric sector on a greener path over the next five years. The next phase of the war on carbon would be to try to electrify everything else—cars and trains that use oil-derived gasoline and diesel, as well as homes and businesses that rely on natural gas and heating oil. Nilles hopes power companies like OG&E and DTE that Beyond Coal has spent the last decade fighting with—but then cutting deals with—can become allies in Phase Two. And allies will be vital, because if King Coal seems like a rich and powerful enemy, it’s a pushover compared to Big Oil.

“Once we’ve taken out coal, we’ll need to take on oil, and who better to help than our new friends in the utility sector who can make money from electrification?” Nilles says with a grin. “It’s a long fight. This is how we win.”

More Banana Bucks For Amnesty

In Let The Banana Bucks Flow: Executive Amnesty Could Cost More Than Bush Tax Cuts, I guessed at a ball park a cost for amnesty:

For 5 million people alone, these costs could easily skyrocket to $500 billion, exceeding the level of the Bush tax cuts.

Turns out I'm easily off by a factor of three.

The Many Costs Of Obama's Executive Amnesty

Rector told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee last week that the lifetime costs of Social Security and Medicare benefits paid to the millions of immigrants to whom Obama is granting legal status will be about $1.3 trillion.

That is actually a lowball figure based on 4 million amnestied. If it's 5 million, the cost is closer to $1.6 trillion, just for Social Security and Medicare. I did not count those benefits in my $500 billion estimate, I was looking only at tax breaks (such as EITC and child tax credits) and local costs such a public schools.

DAPA recipients, according to Rector's calculations, will receive $7.8 billion every year once they get access to the refundable earned income tax credit and the refundable additional child tax credit.

The average DAPA-eligible family already receives about $6,600 a year in means-tested welfare benefits. That includes food stamps, school lunch (and breakfast), Medicaid, the State Children's Health Insurance Program and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children.

They don't even consider local education costs.

There's no way the country can afford these new welfare recipients. There will be massive cuts in welfare spending. Not from Congressional spending cuts, but from currency devaluation. The U.S. dollar is in the middle of a bull market right now, but when this market breaks, the U.S. dollar will begin its long collapse.

Here Come the Machines

Steve Wozniak:

"If we build these devices to take care of everything for us, eventually they'll think faster than us and they'll get rid of the slow humans to run companies more efficiently."

There's a bit too much optimism behind the predictions of Skynet-style Armageddon where the machines take over. On the other hand, the Wozniak quote above is something we'll see within the next 5 to 10 years.