The productive in the U.S. are carrying an ever-heavier gorilla on their backs: the U.S. government and its minions. From Bill Bonner at bonnerprivateresearch.com:
(Source: Getty Images)
Bill Bonner, reckoning today from Baltimore, Maryland…
Michael Snyder:
Say Goodbye To The Middle Class: Half Of All American Workers Made Less Than $40,847.18 Last Year
If you are wondering why so many Americans are stressed about their finances these days, just look at the numbers. The Social Security Administration just released national wage statistics for 2022, and the figures that they have given us do not paint a pretty picture at all. In particular, we should all be deeply alarmed that the median wage earner brought home just $40,847.18 last year. That breaks down to about $3,400 a month, and that is before taxes. Needless to say, you cannot live a middle class lifestyle in America today on just $3,400 a month before taxes. So in most households more than one person must work, and in many cases more than one person is working multiple jobs.
More formerly middle class Americans are falling into poverty with each passing day, and this is causing an alarming surge in demand at food banks from coast to coast…
Economic conditions have deteriorated substantially in 2023, and I am entirely convinced that 2024 will be even worse…
And here’s Business Insider:
…Americans are drowning in credit-card debt – and …the economy will pay the price
Record credit-card debt threatens to spark a consumer-spending slowdown soon, Carl Weinberg said.
“Consumers are just waking up to the fact that they’re financing their spending by running up their credit cards, and that the interest on those credit cards is over the top, out of control, off the hook right now,” Carl Weinberg told CNBC on Wednesday.
Musk painted a similar picture in October. “A large number of people are living paycheck to paycheck and with a lot of debt,” he said, noting credit-card payments have hit “extremely punishing” levels. “If you cannot pay them off and you’re still accruing interest at 20%, you’re at best headed to a bad place.”
Slip Slidin’ Away
A bad place is where we think we’re headed. So let’s continue trying to understand how we’ll get there. As you recall from last week, the period – 1950-1980 was fine. Then came a bewildering 40-year stretch, 1980-2020 should have been the most astonishingly rich period in our history. It turned out to be a big flop. Despite some of the most remarkable technological innovations ever, growth rates declined. Real wages stagnated. By almost all comparisons and indicators, the US slipped down.
