THE SECOND GREAT DEPRESSION (it now finally has a name).

April Fool's Day Rally: Your Money is Worthless, You're Hungry & Nervous. Dow Rises 391

Wed, 04/02/2008 - 02:07 — manystrom

by Michael Nystrom | April 1, 2008

by Michael Nystrom | April 1, 2008

Isn't it just like the market to play a little April Fool's Day joke on investors the day after the UK's Independent proclaimed on its front page, "USA 2008: The Great Depression?"

In truth, the market wasn't joking around at all. The Dow's 391 point rise was a deadly serious message: Financial markets don't care about newspaper articles. Nor do they care about the high prices you're paying for food, gas, rent, tuition, debt service, clothes or anything else that you can no longer afford. Financial markets have their own internal rules and logic, and right now they simply cannot be bothered with average Americans' struggles to make ends meet. At present, they are concerned mainly with the money free-for-all going on over at the Federal Reserve.

But as the Independent's article states, life is becoming more and more of a struggle for many Americans:

Emblematic of the downturn until now has been the parades of houses seized in foreclosure all across the country, and myriad families separated from their homes. But now the crisis is starting to hit the country in its gut. Getting food on the table is a challenge many Americans are finding harder to meet.

Forget about luxuries - simply getting food on the table is tough for the 10% of Ohioans who are getting food stamps. In West Virginia, it is close to 17% of the population . The CBO estimates that 28 million Americans will be receiving food stamp assistance by October, likely a gross underestimate, considering its source (the Federal government).

This is not a problem that just sprang up this year. The graph on the left from the NY Times shows that the need for food stamps has been growing steadily though the listless "recovery" years of the 2000's:

All boats did not rise on the incoming tide during the economic recovery that followed the brief post-9/11 recession. In fact, many families simply took on greater debt to keep their boats afloat. With home prices collapsing, equity shrinking and credit tightening, it is getting harder for many to stay buoyant.

The lack of real wage growth during the decade has left many highly vulnerable to a recession.

April Fool's Day Rally 2008

Given the economic situation for the majority of Americans, why on earth did the Dow rally 391 points?

In fact, it was kind of a joke - the same cruel, sick joke that has been played on the American people for at least the past 35 years, since real wages quit keeping pace with inflation, starting in 1973. Here's the joke: average Americans like you and I just don't matter.

It doesn't matter one lick to the companies that compose the Dow if you're having a hard time making ends meet. If you're unable to become a revenue stream to one of the global multinationals that make up the Dow, well, there are scores of willing consumers, waiting on distant shores to take your place in the global economy. It should be abundantly clear by now that a hot stock market does not equate to a healthy economy. Just ask China, Russia, Thailand or any number of "developing" nations. A booming stock market and a citizenry composed of millions of starving, subsistence level peasants can happily coexist, and never the 'twain need meet. Why should America be any different? In fact, America is becoming more and more like those "developing" countries every day: A society composed of a small, ultra-wealthy elite class and a swelling majority of the population living at the subsistence level.

Do you think financial markets care?

Example: The High Cost of Low Prices
Last weekend an acquaintance introduced me to a fantastic website at www.freedocumentaries.org. As the title implies, there is a wealth of wonderful online educational viewing to be had - the perfect antidote to the chronic problem of 500+ channels on television and nothing at all good on to watch.

Among the programs I watched recently is one on Dow component Wal Mart, titled, The High Cost of Low Prices. Here is a 10 minute teaser from the middle of the film:



I urge you to take the time to watch the full documentary at www.freedocumentaries.org. If you do, you will discover that what is good - in fact great for Dow component Wal Mart - is devastating for working class Americans across the country. In today's April Fool's Day rally, Wal Mart stock was up 2.3% - $1.40 per share, or $5.6 billion. Meanwhile, GM, Ford & Toyota all announced that their US car sales dropped by double digits last month.

In order to buy cars, citizens need good jobs that pay well. But not only has Wal Mart destroyed thousands of community businesses and better paying jobs across the country with its ultra low priced, shoddily produced, imported products; its wages are so low that many employees can barely afford to feed themselves properly, and proper health care is out of reach. Wal Mart managers are therefore trained in directing employees to Federal welfare assistance for health care and yes, food stamps. Forget about buying a new car on $7.00 per hour ($14,000 per year).

Imagine working a full time job and not being able to afford to buy enough food to feed your family. Hard to believe, but this is what America has become. But this behavior - terrible for people, for families and for the cultural fabric that makes up America - is tremendous for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The Anti-General Motors
Once upon a time it was said that what was good for General Motors is good for America. That was back when GM was America's largest private employer and Detroit was the world's manufacturing center. But as the NY Times states, "Michigan has been in its own mini-recession for years as its collapsing industrial base, particularly in the car industry, has cast more and more out of work. Now, one in eight residents of the state is on food stamps, double the level in 2000."

It is the same sad story for many once world-class American manufacturing cities. They're been rotting away since the 1970's as America transitions to a third world country, complete with tin horn dictator and hyperinflating currency. Wal Mart's rise as the anti-GM epitomizes this transition. Whereas GM actually manufactured things of lasting, productive value (how many old Chevy's are still running strong in Cuba?), Wal Mart imports and sells things of shoddy quality and questionable value. Hardly any of it is manufactured in America. GM paid such generous wages that a single breadwinner working for the company could support a family comfortably. Wal Mart pays such poor wages that two workers would still have difficulty supporting a family without additional government assistance. GM offered generous pensions and health care to their employees. Wal Mart employees are on their own.

The comparison between these two global giants is an object lesson in how far America's standard of living has slipped in less than half a century. Billy Joel captured it perfectly in his 1982 song, Allentown:

Well we're living here in Allentown
And they're closing all the factories down
Out in Bethlehem they're killing time
Filling out forms
Standing in line
...
Well we're waiting here in Allentown
For the Pennsylvania we never found
For the promises our teachers gave
If we worked hard
If we behaved

So the graduations hang on the wall
But they never really helped us at all
No they never taught us what was real
Iron and coke
And chromium steel
And we're waiting here in Allentown

But they've taken all the coal from the ground
And the union people crawled away

Every child had a pretty good shot
To get at least as far as their old man got
But something happened on the way to that place
They threw an American flag in our face

Well I'm living here in Allentown
And it's hard to keep a good man down
But I won't be getting up today

And it's getting very hard to stay
And we're living here in Allentown

Yup, they threw that American flag in our face. Somehow capitalism, "free" markets and globalization sneakily became more patriotic and American than America itself. Billy Joel tells the story poignantly with his poetry because, as Wikipedia informs us: "Joel witnessed this first-hand while performing at the Lehigh Valley's numerous music venues at the start of his career in the late 1960s and early 1970s."

Like much of America, Allentown has continued its long, slow decline:

The city's [above national average] crime statistics have been heightened by growing gang-related crime and gang rival violence. The Allentown region is one of several national strongholds for MS-13, considered the nation's single most violent gang. The Bloods, another notoriously violent gang, also has a presence in the city. These and other gangs, including the Crips, have been responsible for gang signal graffiti, which typically is a reference to their presence on a certain block and sometimes an advance warning of forthcoming retaliatory gang violence or other crimes. Allentown also has seen a growth in drug trafficking and prostitution in recent years.

But at least Allentown has a Wal Mart! Supercenter #2641. In spite of that - or because of it - violence and crime have followed the economic despair. Is there a modern-day Billy Joel to witness and document America's ongoing second great depression? Will such an artist be propelled to fame, perhaps singing America's new blues on American Idol?

Doubtfully. TV is for happy, useless, mind bludgeoningly idiotic tittytainment. Which brings us back to yesterday's April Fool's Day rally, which exists somehow in the same realm as American Idol. Both are part of a nether world - fantasies divorced from the reality of struggling, working class Americans. That fantasy world is populated by a smaller - but still large enough - segment of the population that is doing just fine, thank you. They are the ones with high paying jobs and generous health insurance benefits who earn their livings playing with abstract concepts like credit default swaps and mortgage backed securities. These are the Lucky Few, though many will no doubt tell you arrogantly that their success has nothing to do with luck, and everything to do with their "hard work." But even the Lucky Few are getting fewer by the day. Until just a week or so ago, some of the Lucky Few were gainfully employed at Bear Stearns, and life was good.

Members of the Lucky Few don't have to worry about food stamps or public transportation. The rising price of food and gas is a minor annoyance. They've likely never heard of the Crips, Bloods, or MS-13. The Lucky Few are the ones who are floating the Dow and pushing it higher. To them, Wal Mart is no doubt a screaming buy: As the economy gets worse, people won't be able to afford to shop anywhere else! And so many people will be looking for work that Wal Mart can lower its wages and make every "associate" a part timer - meaning no need to pay full-time benefits. Ka-ching! Increased profits - forget about costs. The system has no way of valuing them. Furthermore, the Fed is running the magic liquidity hose, which means inflation and higher stock prices over time. Ka-ching! Again, forget about the costs associated with inflation. The system has no way of valuing those, either. Finally, Wal Mart is expanding abroad, especially in China. So even if tens of millions of Americans get so dirt-poor that they can no longer afford to shop even at Wal Mart, there are hundreds of millions of up-and-coming Chinese consumers that are waiting in line to take their places. Conclusion: Wal Mart is a strong buy, as evidenced by yesterday's market action. It hit a new 52-week high.

That's the reality of it. Ross Perot was right. That giant sucking sound he warned us of has gone about its work thoroughly and efficiently, sucking out wealth and value from the pockets of average Americans in nearly every nook of the country. The Dow is no longer an American index. In this age of globalism, the Dow can do just fine without most Americans keeping up with the Joneses. The world is full of people with money and those pesky companies will do anything to get it -- all of it -- before moving on.

First Allentown, now the rest of America. Who is to stop the trend? Not the global multinationals - they're the ones creating it! Not our government - they're the ones who sold us out in the first place! The only ones we can rely on are ourselves. But even we've allowed it to happen with our apathy. Where is the outrage? Perhaps people are just too busy and harried to understand what is happening. The upside to the second great depression is that as more and more people find themselves unemployed, with time on their hands and an internet connection to study up, people will start to figure things out. And when they do, they're going to get mad. And once that begins to happen, who knows where we'll be propelled?



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I live in Allentown

Wed, 04/02/2008 - 09:46 — Mike G. (not verified)

Part of Allentown's problems today stem from bad political leadership over the past 20 years. When New York City banned handguns, all the gun/drug crime set up shop on the 78 corridor, Allentown Bethlehem and Easton. Then, a huge number of police officers retired on pensions in excess of $93,000 a year. The city arbitrated for 5 years unsuccessfully. For the last 7-8 years the police force has been operating at only 65-70 percent. Only recently, and with high interest loans, has the force gotten back to 90-95% range. The FBI has also established a joint crime task force and there has been a drop in overall vilent crimes and murders.

Jobs are the biggest problem. The main employers in the Lehigh Valley right now are Lehigh Valley Hospital and Air Products. That is about it, Hertz has a prescence and Just Born as well. The problem is, the rest of the jobs are worth less than dealing drugs on the street.

Allentown has become a true bedroom community with ~30% commuting to NYC for work. Many are transplants from New York. While this seems encouraging, the schools are failing miserably. 50% of schoolchildren are on meal assistance.

All of this represents a difficult future with some hope of improvement, but overall, the area will remain disadvantaged in the coming decade.

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I live in Allentown

Wed, 04/02/2008 - 09:44 — Mike G. (not verified)

Part of Allentown's problems today stem from bad political leadership over the past 20 years. When New York City banned handguns, all the gun/drug crime set up shop on the 78 corridor, Allentown Bethlehem and Easton. Then, a huge number of police officers retired on pensions in excess of $93,000 a year. The city arbitrated for 5 years unsuccessfully. For the last 7-8 years the police force has been operating at only 65-70 percent. Only recently, and with high interest loans, has the force gotten back to 90-95% range. The FBI has also established a joint crime task force and there has been a drop in overall vilent crimes and murders.

Jobs are the biggest problem. The main employers in the Lehigh Valley right now are Lehigh Valley Hospital and Air Products. That is about it, Hertz has a prescence and Just Born as well. The problem is, the rest of the jobs are worth less than dealing drugs on the street.

Allentown has become a true bedroom community with ~30% commuting to NYC for work. Many are transplants from New York. While this seems encouraging, the schools are failing miserably. 50% of schoolchildren are on meal assistance.

All of this represents a difficult future with some hope of improvement, but overall, the area will remain disadvantaged in the coming decade.

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I'm mad as hell!

Wed, 04/02/2008 - 03:13 — Stumbler (not verified)

I'm mad as hell, and i have haven't been taking it for years!
although i had no idea exactly how we were all suffering at the hands of this inflationary system, i managed to figure out that when the times were good, borrow borrow borrow! just make sure you pay it back before times get bad, which is what i have done.
i am now cashed up with enough to buy a little farm where i can grow my own stuff,(including fuel for my car!) and can lock in a very comfortable peasant lifestyle, independent of the system.
it was a helluva struggle, risking everything time and time again, but i wasn't greedy, jsut a bit brave, and oh how happy i am!!!:)
good luck to everyone.

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Glad to hear that. You have

Wed, 04/02/2008 - 07:40 — just dropping by (not verified)

Glad to hear that. You have taken the right step and yes it needsa bit of ourage when everybody around you is living it high on their bank cards . We did this exactly 10 years ago in Australia and have never looked back. The banks keep sending me letters begging me to get a card for free or other enticements -I just throw them away in the dust bin where they belong. Good luck.
SV

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Suck it up Mike

Wed, 04/02/2008 - 05:11 — Just dropping by (not verified)

It is time for us fools to suck it up and realize that it has always been this way and Walmart ain't the problem.

So the stock market went crazy yesterday? Check your market history of the Dow and look at the wide range the Dow stocks traded through during the Depression. The boyz will play even if we don't show up--and in the 30's all of it happened when nobody else was participating.

In fact the boyz will play with everything, including "real" money, or what is supposed to be so as witness the wild swings in gold and think back to late days of the last century when gold was worth-less.

It is silly to think that all the hijinks have anything to do with the economic condition that prevails in the real world.

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YOU MISS THE WHOLE POINT

Wed, 04/02/2008 - 07:25 — jonah

Man are you for real?

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PLANNED !!!

Wed, 04/02/2008 - 07:57 — Just dropping by (not verified)

Whats happeneing in our economy is not an unexpected
out come, it's not a surprise to our leaders, in fact
it does'nt even upset them. The final collapse of America
was planned decades ago and accelerated after the
eleimination of JFK, and the new red seal currency he
issued to put the Federal Reserve out of business.
In order to make room for the North American Union the USA
must be destroyed, that destruction has been going on since the birth of the Federal Reserve in 1913 and is now
in it's final chapter. Like an aligator taking it's prey
underwater to make it more tender, the American peolple
are being tenderized for consumption by the NAU and the
new world order.The only real surprise will be the failed
efforts of these Satan worshipers. It is necessary for
China and Russia to become part of a one world government
and adopt a one world currency (or RFID) to allow
for the NAU to rule ALL , this will not happen. There
will be one final war which which kill all and
send these evil men (and women) to meet their unholy
master.

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Been following...

Wed, 04/02/2008 - 09:23 — yooper

Hello jdb, I've been following you're messages. "NAU To Rule ALL"? Is this not unlike, "NATURAL"? Just a thought...

Thanks, yooper

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Yooper too

Wed, 04/02/2008 - 09:54 — Just dropping by (not verified)

Hello yooper, I'm also a yooper, but I'm in Iraq right now, haha. Enjoy the good hunting for food, the wood for heat, and all the snow for fresh water. It's a great place to ride it all out.

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Jonah

Wed, 04/02/2008 - 07:32 — jonah

Mike, THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO, keep fighting the good fight!

"Don't believe them, don't fear them, don't ask anything of them." - Alexander Solzhenitsyn

---

You rock. That's why Blockbuster's offering you one month of Blockbuster Total Access, No Cost.

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Wed, 04/02/2008 - 02:07 — manystrom
by Michael Nystrom | April 1, 2008

Isn't it just like the market to play a little April Fool's Day joke on investors the day after the UK's Independent proclaimed on its front page, "USA 2008: The Great Depression?"

In truth, the market wasn't joking around at all. The Dow's 391 point rise was a deadly serious message: Financial markets don't care about newspaper articles. Nor do they care about the high prices you're paying for food, gas, rent, tuition, debt service, clothes or anything else that you can no longer afford. Financial markets have their own internal rules and logic, and right now they simply cannot be bothered with average Americans' struggles to make ends meet. At present, they are concerned mainly with the money free-for-all going on over at the Federal Reserve.

But as the Independent's article states, life is becoming more and more of a struggle for many Americans: Emblematic of the downturn until now has been the parades of houses seized in foreclosure all across the country, and myriad families separated from their homes. But now the crisis is starting to hit the country in its gut. Getting food on the table is a challenge many Americans are finding harder to meet.Forget about luxuries - simply getting food on the table is tough for the 10% of Ohioans who are getting food stamps. In West Virginia, it is close to 17% of the population . The CBO estimates that 28 million Americans will be receiving food stamp assistance by October, likely a gross underestimate, considering its source (the Federal government).

This is not a problem that just sprang up this year. The graph on the left from the NY Times shows that the need for food stamps has been growing steadily though the listless "recovery" years of the 2000's: All boats did not rise on the incoming tide during the economic recovery that followed the brief post-9/11 recession. In fact, many families simply took on greater debt to keep their boats afloat. With home prices collapsing, equity shrinking and credit tightening, it is getting harder for many to stay buoyant.

The lack of real wage growth during the decade has left many highly vulnerable to a recession.April Fool's Day Rally 2008

Given the economic situation for the majority of Americans, why on earth did the Dow rally 391 points?

In fact, it was kind of a joke - the same cruel, sick joke that has been played on the American people for at least the past 35 years, since real wages quit keeping pace with inflation, starting in 1973. Here's the joke: average Americans like you and I just don't matter.

It doesn't matter one lick to the companies that compose the Dow if you're having a hard time making ends meet. If you're unable to become a revenue stream to one of the global multinationals that make up the Dow, well, there are scores of willing consumers, waiting on distant shores to take your place in the global economy. It should be abundantly clear by now that a hot stock market does not equate to a healthy economy. Just ask China, Russia, Thailand or any number of "developing" nations. A booming stock market and a citizenry composed of millions of starving, subsistence level peasants can happily coexist, and never the 'twain need meet. Why should America be any different? In fact, America is becoming more and more like those "developing" countries every day: A society composed of a small, ultra-wealthy elite class and a swelling majority of the population living at the subsistence level.

Do you think financial markets care?

Example: The High Cost of Low Prices
Last weekend an acquaintance introduced me to a fantastic website at www.freedocumentaries.org. As the title implies, there is a wealth of wonderful online educational viewing to be had - the perfect antidote to the chronic problem of 500+ channels on television and nothing at all good on to watch.

Among the programs I watched recently is one on Dow component Wal Mart, titled, The High Cost of Low Prices. Here is a 10 minute teaser from the middle of the film:

I urge you to take the time to watch the full documentary at www.freedocumentaries.org. If you do, you will discover that what is good - in fact great for Dow component Wal Mart - is devastating for working class Americans across the country. In today's April Fool's Day rally, Wal Mart stock was up 2.3% - $1.40 per share, or $5.6 billion. Meanwhile, GM, Ford & Toyota all announced that their US car sales dropped by double digits last month.

In order to buy cars, citizens need good jobs that pay well. But not only has Wal Mart destroyed thousands of community businesses and better paying jobs across the country with its ultra low priced, shoddily produced, imported products; its wages are so low that many employees can barely afford to feed themselves properly, and proper health care is out of reach. Wal Mart managers are therefore trained in directing employees to Federal welfare assistance for health care and yes, food stamps. Forget about buying a new car on $7.00 per hour ($14,000 per year).

Imagine working a full time job and not being able to afford to buy enough food to feed your family. Hard to believe, but this is what America has become. But this behavior - terrible for people, for families and for the cultural fabric that makes up America - is tremendous for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The Anti-General Motors
Once upon a time it was said that what was good for General Motors is good for America. That was back when GM was America's largest private employer and Detroit was the world's manufacturing center. But as the NY Times states, "Michigan has been in its own mini-recession for years as its collapsing industrial base, particularly in the car industry, has cast more and more out of work. Now, one in eight residents of the state is on food stamps, double the level in 2000."

It is the same sad story for many once world-class American manufacturing cities. They're been rotting away since the 1970's as America transitions to a third world country, complete with tin horn dictator and hyperinflating currency. Wal Mart's rise as the anti-GM epitomizes this transition. Whereas GM actually manufactured things of lasting, productive value (how many old Chevy's are still running strong in Cuba?), Wal Mart imports and sells things of shoddy quality and questionable value. Hardly any of it is manufactured in America. GM paid such generous wages that a single breadwinner working for the company could support a family comfortably. Wal Mart pays such poor wages that two workers would still have difficulty supporting a family without additional government assistance. GM offered generous pensions and health care to their employees. Wal Mart employees are on their own.

The comparison between these two global giants is an object lesson in how far America's standard of living has slipped in less than half a century. Billy Joel captured it perfectly in his 1982 song, Allentown:

Well we're living here in Allentown
And they're closing all the factories down
Out in Bethlehem they're killing time
Filling out forms
Standing in line
...
Well we're waiting here in Allentown
For the Pennsylvania we never found
For the promises our teachers gave
If we worked hard
If we behaved

So the graduations hang on the wall
But they never really helped us at all
No they never taught us what was real
Iron and coke
And chromium steel
And we're waiting here in Allentown

But they've taken all the coal from the ground
And the union people crawled away

Every child had a pretty good shot
To get at least as far as their old man got
But something happened on the way to that place
They threw an American flag in our face

Well I'm living here in Allentown
And it's hard to keep a good man down
But I won't be getting up today

And it's getting very hard to stay
And we're living here in Allentown

Yup, they threw that American flag in our face. Somehow capitalism, "free" markets and globalization sneakily became more patriotic and American than America itself. Billy Joel tells the story poignantly with his poetry because, as Wikipedia informs us: "Joel witnessed this first-hand while performing at the Lehigh Valley's numerous music venues at the start of his career in the late 1960s and early 1970s."

Like much of America, Allentown has continued its long, slow decline: The city's [above national average] crime statistics have been heightened by growing gang-related crime and gang rival violence. The Allentown region is one of several national strongholds for MS-13, considered the nation's single most violent gang. The Bloods, another notoriously violent gang, also has a presence in the city. These and other gangs, including the Crips, have been responsible for gang signal graffiti, which typically is a reference to their presence on a certain block and sometimes an advance warning of forthcoming retaliatory gang violence or other crimes. Allentown also has seen a growth in drug trafficking and prostitution in recent years.But at least Allentown has a Wal Mart! Supercenter #2641. In spite of that - or because of it - violence and crime have followed the economic despair. Is there a modern-day Billy Joel to witness and document America's ongoing second great depression?
Will such an artist be propelled to fame, perhaps singing America's new blues on American Idol?

Doubtfully. TV is for happy, useless, mind bludgeoningly idiotic tittytainment. Which brings us back to yesterday's April Fool's Day rally, which exists somehow in the same realm as American Idol. Both are part of a nether world - fantasies divorced from the reality of struggling, working class Americans. That fantasy world is populated by a smaller - but still large enough - segment of the population that is doing just fine, thank you. They are the ones with high paying jobs and generous health insurance benefits who earn their livings playing with abstract concepts like credit default swaps and mortgage backed securities. These are the Lucky Few, though many will no doubt tell you arrogantly that their success has nothing to do with luck, and everything to do with their "hard work." But even the Lucky Few are getting fewer by the day. Until just a week or so ago, some of the Lucky Few were gainfully employed at Bear Stearns, and life was good.

Members of the Lucky Few don't have to worry about food stamps or public transportation. The rising price of food and gas is a minor annoyance. They've likely never heard of the Crips, Bloods, or MS-13. The Lucky Few are the ones who are floating the Dow and pushing it higher. To them, Wal Mart is no doubt a screaming buy: As the economy gets worse, people won't be able to afford to shop anywhere else! And so many people will be looking for work that Wal Mart can lower its wages and make every "associate" a part timer - meaning no need to pay full-time benefits. Ka-ching! Increased profits - forget about costs. The system has no way of valuing them. Furthermore, the Fed is running the magic liquidity hose, which means inflation and higher stock prices over time. Ka-ching! Again, forget about the costs associated with inflation. The system has no way of valuing those, either. Finally, Wal Mart is expanding abroad, especially in China. So even if tens of millions of Americans
get so dirt-poor that they can no longer afford to shop even at Wal Mart, there are hundreds of millions of up-and-coming Chinese consumers that are waiting in line to take their places. Conclusion: Wal Mart is a strong buy, as evidenced by yesterday's market action. It hit a new 52-week high.

That's the reality of it. Ross Perot was right. That giant sucking sound he warned us of has gone about its work thoroughly and efficiently, sucking out wealth and value from the pockets of average Americans in nearly every nook of the country. The Dow is no longer an American index. In this age of globalism, the Dow can do just fine without most Americans keeping up with the Joneses. The world is full of people with money and those pesky companies will do anything to get it -- all of it -- before moving on.

First Allentown, now the rest of America. Who is to stop the trend? Not the global multinationals - they're the ones creating it! Not our government - they're the ones who sold us out in the first place! The only ones we can rely on are ourselves. But even we've allowed it to happen with our apathy. Where is the outrage? Perhaps people are just too busy and harried to understand what is happening. The upside to the second great depression is that as more and more people find themselves unemployed, with time on their hands and an internet connection to study up, people will start to figure things out. And when they do, they're going to get mad. And once that begins to happen, who knows where we'll be propelled?

Next time: A diagnosis of the problem, and a potential solution. Sign up to be notified.


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Add new comment
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Comments I live in AllentownWed, 04/02/2008 - 09:46 — Mike G. (not verified) Part of Allentown's problems today stem from bad political leadership over the past 20 years. When New York City banned handguns, all the gun/drug crime set up shop on the 78 corridor, Allentown Bethlehem and Easton. Then, a huge number of police officers retired on pensions in excess of $93,000 a year. The city arbitrated for 5 years unsuccessfully. For the last 7-8 years the police force has been operating at only 65-70 percent. Only recently, and with high interest loans, has the force gotten back to 90-95% range. The FBI has also established a joint crime task force and there has been a drop in overall vilent crimes and murders.

Jobs are the biggest problem. The main employers in the Lehigh Valley right now are Lehigh Valley Hospital and Air Products. That is about it, Hertz has a prescence and Just Born as well. The problem is, the rest of the jobs are worth less than dealing drugs on the street.
Allentown has become a true bedroom community with ~30% commuting to NYC for work. Many are transplants from New York. While this seems encouraging, the schools are failing miserably. 50% of schoolchildren are on meal assistance.
All of this represents a difficult future with some hope of improvement, but overall, the area will remain disadvantaged in the coming decade.

reply
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I live in AllentownWed, 04/02/2008 - 09:44 — Mike G. (not verified) Part of Allentown's problems today stem from bad political leadership over the past 20 years. When New York City banned handguns, all the gun/drug crime set up shop on the 78 corridor, Allentown Bethlehem and Easton. Then, a huge number of police officers retired on pensions in excess of $93,000 a year. The city arbitrated for 5 years unsuccessfully. For the last 7-8 years the police force has been operating at only 65-70 percent. Only recently, and with high interest loans, has the force gotten back to 90-95% range. The FBI has also established a joint crime task force and there has been a drop in overall vilent crimes and murders.

Jobs are the biggest problem. The main employers in the Lehigh Valley right now are Lehigh Valley Hospital and Air Products. That is about it, Hertz has a prescence and Just Born as well. The problem is, the rest of the jobs are worth less than dealing drugs on the street.
Allentown has become a true bedroom community with ~30% commuting to NYC for work. Many are transplants from New York. While this seems encouraging, the schools are failing miserably. 50% of schoolchildren are on meal assistance.
All of this represents a difficult future with some hope of improvement, but overall, the area will remain disadvantaged in the coming decade.

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I'm mad as hell!Wed, 04/02/2008 - 03:13 — Stumbler (not verified) I'm mad as hell, and i have haven't been taking it for years!
although i had no idea exactly how we were all suffering at the hands of this inflationary system, i managed to figure out that when the times were good, borrow borrow borrow! just make sure you pay it back before times get bad, which is what i have done.
i am now cashed up with enough to buy a little farm where i can grow my own stuff,(including fuel for my car!) and can lock in a very comfortable peasant lifestyle, independent of the system.
it was a helluva struggle, risking everything time and time again, but i wasn't greedy, jsut a bit brave, and oh how happy i am!!!:)
good luck to everyone.

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Glad to hear that. You haveWed, 04/02/2008 - 07:40 — just dropping by (not verified) Glad to hear that. You have taken the right step and yes it needsa bit of ourage when everybody around you is living it high on their bank cards . We did this exactly 10 years ago in Australia and have never looked back. The banks keep sending me letters begging me to get a card for free or other enticements -I just throw them away in the dust bin where they belong. Good luck.
SV

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Suck it up MikeWed, 04/02/2008 - 05:11 — Just dropping by (not verified) It is time for us fools to suck it up and realize that it has always been this way and Walmart ain't the problem.

So the stock market went crazy yesterday? Check your market history of the Dow and look at the wide range the Dow stocks traded through during the Depression. The boyz will play even if we don't show up--and in the 30's all of it happened when nobody else was participating.
In fact the boyz will play with everything, including "real" money, or what is supposed to be so as witness the wild swings in gold and think back to late days of the last century when gold was worth-less.
It is silly to think that all the hijinks have anything to do with the economic condition that prevails in the real world.

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YOU MISS THE WHOLE POINTWed, 04/02/2008 - 07:25 — jonah Man are you for real?

- Show quoted text -

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PLANNED !!!Wed, 04/02/2008 - 07:57 — Just dropping by (not verified) Whats happeneing in our economy is not an unexpected
out come, it's not a surprise to our leaders, in fact
it does'nt even upset them. The final collapse of America
was planned decades ago and accelerated after the
eleimination of JFK, and the new red seal currency he
issued to put the Federal Reserve out of business.
In order to make room for the North American Union the USA
must be destroyed, that destruction has been going on since the birth of the Federal Reserve in 1913 and is now
in it's final chapter. Like an aligator taking it's prey
underwater to make it more tender, the American peolple
are being tenderized for consumption by the NAU and the
new world order.The only real surprise will be the failed
efforts of these Satan worshipers. It is necessary for
China and Russia to become part of a one world government
and adopt a one world currency (or RFID) to allow
for the NAU to rule ALL , this will not happen. There
will be one final war which which kill all and
send these evil men (and women) to meet their unholy
master.

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Been following...Wed, 04/02/2008 - 09:23 — yooper Hello jdb, I've been following you're messages. "NAU To Rule ALL"? Is this not unlike, "NATURAL"? Just a thought...
Thanks, yooper

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Yooper tooWed, 04/02/2008 - 09:54 — Just dropping by (not verified) Hello yooper, I'm also a yooper, but I'm in Iraq right now, haha. Enjoy the good hunting for food, the wood for heat, and all the snow for fresh water. It's a great place to ride it all out.