Why You Will Soon Be Living In Poverty

My story and observations.. not a whine..

I'm in Australia. A 50 year old single parent, pensioned off after a broken back.. although I have been walking since three weeks (forced myself to) after the accident, but I cannot "work".

I watched the results of GST in New zealand when I was there for four years.. it created poverty and a massive increase in hidden homeless. Then the same model was applied here when I returned home. In the 6 months leading up to the introduction of GST here, everything started going up in price, weekly... 20 cents here and 50 cents there, until many items were reboxed into smaller packages and were selling for two or more times the old prices. Homelessness has increased considerably but it is well hidden too, and unreported.

My daughter is about to turn 16 and we have been forced by regulations, I didn't know existed, to have her apply for Youth Allowance. All good it seems, until I asked how this effects our Family Tax A and B components of Family Assistance... which we got on opposite weeks to my Disability Pension. The answer I got was.."Sorry you get nothing then." So that means I lose A$380 p/fortnight in one fell swoop! Not perfect timing for us at all really as she still has another year of our supposedly Free State Education high school system to go.

At the moment I have been going through everything to see where we can cut costs. We don't own much because I am not a materialist.. and the ex-wife got everything 13 years ago anyway.. hard to recover from on a Pension with a child to support. So far we need to reduce power usage.. the cost per KWH has increased by 15% four times in the past two years which effectively more than doubled the bill. I can use the car less.. but I hardly use it now anyway due to the high cost of Fuel here. We could buy less processed food and live primarily on fresh local produce from the Grower's Market and substitute that with what we can grow ourselves.

As a retired professional psychic (yep that was the work I chose to do after the injury), I have known for many years that things would get tough in this timeframe. So I was able to watch things fall into place in order to create what we are experiencing and will in the short term future.

I knew this so called Recession would bite.. governments would throw more money at it to stay afloat than anyone could really comprehend. And this would make it look like a recovery was in the pipeline. But, there is a second Bite coming that won't be floated over to look good.. no matter how much newly printed money can get thrown into the hole.

Being one of those people who can see what's going on in the world around me, I have watched as the signs get stronger.. and less reported on of course. I've seen the Media here use old story's and headlines on our economy that make it look on the surface as if things are going well for us. And the plebs lap it up like Manna.

I foresee much pain within the next two years for most people. So many people will simply lose the plot when their "Dream" crashes down around them.. when all the dollars in their stash are worth nothing.. when Gold, Silver and anything else Precious will be worthless other than to trade with Low Life's.. maybe for goods, or just your life.

The Hopi People's put out a message late in '09 that was interesting, but went over the heads of most people who are living too fast in their chase for the Dollars to Support Lifestyle.. the Lifestyle that Media shows us.. models for us.

The message was a simple one. It asked, "Where is your water? Do you know your garden? Are you in right relations?" That last one meaning your relationship to everything,. not personal relationships. It then went on to talk about a wave coming, a very tough time, a strong current in the river and to not hang onto the shore. Instead, it said let go and see who else is with you in the middle of the river, then rejoice in that.

From what I can see, there is a push on now to develop enough for the next/last big money grab. Using what I call the Syphon System.. the one that sucks up all the money from the bottom, all the way through the layers of society until the vast majority is deposited with the top few percent of the population. Nothing new in that, as the system has been working well for a long time.. unless you are on the bottom. And this grab will break the system for good.

Originally posted by mnemeth1
These “booms” are when the malinvestment takes place due to excessively “cheap” money (credit) being available. Since money is cheap, investors are willing to take more risk than they otherwise would. The cheap cost of borrowing also sends a signal to investors that there is more capital goods available for future production than actually exists. Producers see the cheap rates and assume people have lots of savings available to spend on future consumption so industry reorganizes itself into the production of long term goods. Only later is it revealed that consumers are broke and the existing capital stock of goods that producers were relying on to finish their projects does not actually exist.

The “bust” is the market trying to correct this excessive lending and return itself to a proper ratio of gold to dollars. The “proper” ratio can be considered a point where all bad debts (malinvestments) have been cleared through defaults and write-downs.

Ok, sorry for running to the cut-and-chase....

So in the current conditions we are transforming to,..

We are headed for a "boom", no?

reply to post by mnemeth1


I've got to agree completely. If anybody has spent any time in an economics or business class since 2008, you'd find that all of the good teachers are saying the exact same thing. Maybe, not so bluntly, but they are saying, "Our outlook doesn't look good and have no idea of what the future holds."

I believe the Federal Reserve's Monopoly, the Corporate Oligarchies, and the giant Federal Government were all put in place for a reason. That reason is to make sure America will fall eventually because if you think about how much debt our country keeps racking up, you could to the realization that we will not be able to go on forever spending and living like this.

So, if our way of life cannot go on forever that means it will eventually come crashing down on all the little people. We can keep coming up with ways to extend our current way of life, but in the not so distant future we will drop dead.

What do you mean soon? I have for years, things are getting much worse, so much so that my internet will be cut off on the 28th as I can no longer afford it.
I used to be ahead with utility bills now I am in debt, I have one pair of trousers, about 2 or 3 tshirts and a couple other bits like socks and underwear, as do my wife and kids, I am unable to work due to illness and my wife is not only my childrens carer but mine too, even if she did work she would never find a job that would pay enough to keep us afloat with our heads just above the water as we do right now living on a budget.
my pc was given to me and is worthless, it crashes all the time, I have nothing of value.
We do not smoke, drink or do drugs, we have no credit cards and no borrowed money short of paying back a social fund loan that we needed when we moved to a home we could afford.
So, you said soon? how much worse can things get for me and my family?

Oh and our landlord is refusing to do any work, so we paid for a move and put every last penny into this home that we have now to move out of with no money at all to a property that doesn't have a landlord simply out to churn through tenants and I suspect not give the bond back.

Originally posted by keepithush
What do you mean soon? I have for years, things are getting much worse, so much so that my internet will be cut off on the 28th as I can no longer afford it.
I used to be ahead with utility bills now I am in debt, I have one pair of trousers, about 2 or 3 tshirts and a couple other bits like socks and underwear, as do my wife and kids, I am unable to work due to illness and my wife is not only my childrens carer but mine too, even if she did work she would never find a job that would pay enough to keep us afloat with our heads just above the water as we do right now living on a budget.
my pc was given to me and is worthless, it crashes all the time, I have nothing of value.
We do not smoke, drink or do drugs, we have no credit cards and no borrowed money short of paying back a social fund loan that we needed when we moved to a home we could afford.
So, you said soon? how much worse can things get for me and my family?

Oh and our landlord is refusing to do any work, so we paid for a move and put every last penny into this home that we have now to move out of with no money at all to a property that doesn't have a landlord simply out to churn through tenants and I suspect not give the bond back.

My heart goes out to you, but trust me, the internet being cut off is not your biggest concern.
It may actually be a benefit.

I doubt anyone suggests that drugs or drinking is the reason for your situations.

But I can suggest that the tide is in fact turning, it may just not be so obvious at this time.

Have faith. What else have you got to lose.

(absalutley no sarcasm)

Originally posted by mnemeth1
By using tax payer dollars to bailout private depositors (such as you or I), it is creating MORAL HAZARD.

Such guarantees by the State shut down the critical mechanism of public scrutiny.

If the public thought they could loose all their deposits in a given bank if the bank went under - THEY WOULD BE ALL OVER THAT BANK LIKE FLIES ON %$#*& DEMANDING TO SEE THE BOOKS.

What good would it do, seeing the books, if the books can be made look OK? Just look at recent experience. I'm sorry once again that the Universe does not folds nicely in that super-simplified three-point model that would fit into your head. It won't. Since you obviously never had to price risk (and I did this professionally), you fail to see that:

a) derivatives - in many cases it's just tricky business, and the government regulates that by requiring banks to have cash reserves as a fudge factor to compensate for chaotic nature of markets and natural imperfection of models

b) credit - well that one is even tougher. Say a commercial bank gave out a loan to a 100% legit company but it was bankrupted by new and inept management. It was all good on paper, until you and I find we have 0 cents in our accounts. Tough luck then.



Time to start using brain cells. It's fun.

Originally posted by smirkley


Ok, sorry for running to the cut-and-chase....

So in the current conditions we are transforming to,..

We are headed for a "boom", no?

No, we are currently in a "currency boom" if you will. Filling a balloon with too much air causes it to explode, the same happens when you flood an economy with funny money. Though all the Keynesian fools and Krugman worshipers on this site would spin yarn about quantitative easing and tell you that the FDIC will always protect your deposits,even when your money is worthless, they are however, wrong. Just like they always have been, absolutely wrong on every account.

That doesn't stop them from their incessant worship of the state at every turn. Everything they say is contradictory. They'll argue for hours about how no "free market" exists anywhere in the world because there is always a form of regulation involved in voluntary exchange, then in the same breath they'll blame the free market for the market collapse. How in the hell can the free market be at fault if it doesn't exist?

They'll tell you regulation works, just look at anti-trust laws. Laws designed to prevent monopolies from occurring. Yet they ignore the fact that the Federal Reserve is a monopoly, one that is strictly enforced by the Federal Government. Besides anti-trust laws don't prevent anything, companies simply split into separate entities and remain under the control of the original owners. But it sure does makes Keynesian idiots feel better about themselves!

Originally posted by buddhasystem

I'm making that point again because it shows that your premise if inherent evil of government regulation it patently false. I'm willing to bet that if the states eliminated limits on blood alcohol content as basis for DUI classification, the death toll on our roads would certainly rise. Of course, having such limits goes against the grain of free alcohol market and free consumption of this product -- but what you, mnemeth1, wouldn't sacrifice to appease your fetish for free markets?

If a person gets fired because the business they worked for suddenly folds, their cash flow dries up in a millisecond, they have electricity, heat, water and all that cut and pretty quickly get evicted -- that is, if they don't receive unemployment -- is this your idea of orgasmic happiness that absolutely FREE markets must magically bring us?

People drive drunk all the time and never get caught. DUI's are simply fines for having something in your bloodstream, not for bad driving. This is why DUI Checkpoints exist, because not every drunk driver mows down a school bus.

To your credit you spoke like a true societal planner. You have no idea what would happen to the "death toll". You just believe that without the holy intervention of your sacred government, everyone would go insane and become drunken idiots. How did you survive this long without someone telling you to breath?

To your second point, when a business goes bankrupt it's profitable sections are purchased by it's rivals and it's employees rehired because they are skilled labor, already trained. But in today's world, the non-profitable business gets supported by government debt, it's employees siphon money from the profitable private sector in order to pay their bills. Effectively compounding the problem and forcing the entire country into debt just to pay for the mistakes of the few.

reply to post by mnemeth1


We should all set up a LLC and name it something that resembles our name but misspell it every so slightly.
(i.e. Joseph becomes Josef).

This is essentially the same thing that has been done for us through a straw man with the Social Security Administration.

We then sell ourselves, our government burden straw man selves per say, to the LLC that was set up resembling our name.
This was how a slave bought their freedom back in the day.

It was called a deed of emancipation and it is used when minors want to "divorce their parents" today.

Once this is done, and then TSHTF (figure it out).

We bankrupt the LLC and discharge all of the "private" debts incurred to the previously government owned straw man ("our private debts"). The debts that were once private became public debt a la the straw manned straw man LLC.

All Hail Eris.

Cheers.

reply to post by atlguy


The only true solution is to completely alleviate all citizens debt...but this isn't possible since our government seems to "fear" bankers...most dominant military in the world yet we are afraid of nerdy bankers...why? bc our government doesn't run our nation, the illuminati rules all.

Originally posted by buddhasystem
What good would it do, seeing the books, if the books can be made look OK? Just look at recent experience. I'm sorry once again that the Universe does not folds nicely in that super-simplified three-point model that would fit into your head. It won't. Since you obviously never had to price risk (and I did this professionally), you fail to see that:

a) derivatives - in many cases it's just tricky business, and the government regulates that by requiring banks to have cash reserves as a fudge factor to compensate for chaotic nature of markets and natural imperfection of models

b) credit - well that one is even tougher. Say a commercial bank gave out a loan to a 100% legit company but it was bankrupted by new and inept management. It was all good on paper, until you and I find we have 0 cents in our accounts. Tough luck then.



Time to start using brain cells. It's fun.

Because if books are made to look OK when they are not, the bank operators can be charged with fraud.

I have no problem with banks getting PRIVATE deposit insurance and then marketing this to their customers. However, there is no need to have tax payer backed bailouts in place run by a federally backed monopoly insurance agency. Further, there is no reason why customers themselves couldn't take out private deposit insurance.

Private sector deposit insurance would be much more stringent and may even place requirements on the bank if they want to subscribe to it.

By having a monopoly agency manage all banks with tax payer backing, we can be assured fraud will remain rampant.

No matter how this is setup, there must be private sector scrutiny over the banks and tax payer dollars must not be involved.

One other thing - right now the banks enjoy cheaper insurance payments AND less regulation than they otherwise would if the FDIC was a privately run company offering the same level of coverage - obviously because the FDIC has the limitless pockets of the tax payer backing it.

I hate to tell you this, but Karl Marx was 100% right when he said that capitalism was a very unstable system, given to cycles of boom and bust, and also to concentrating so much wealth at the top that it finally just collpases.

This happened in the 1890s, the 1930s and again in recent years. It's just a fact that anyone who studies history can see very plainly. No big mystery about it.

If the state hadn't intervened to prop up the system, it would have gone down completely in 2008-09. Not that I ever wanted to save it, of course, but evidently Obama and the Republicans did. I believe it was a mistake to save it, although I am also aware that if capitalism had been allowed to collapse suddenly and totally, this would have caused various fascist and communist movements to come to power in many countries around the world, just like the 1930s and 1940s.


The free marketeers--all the classical, neoclassical and anti-Keynesian economists out there, who didn't see this crash coming at all--simply say that depressions should be allowed to run their course without any state "interference" That's their ideology and they have been saying that since the 19th Century.

Well, that's fine, although the BIG capitalists themselves certainly spend a lot of time in Washington begging for all kinds of hand outs, bailouts and state intervention. They haven't really been free marketeers for 100 years--if they ever were.

I think a lot of the libertarian/free market True Believers really represent the small capitalists--the petit bougeoisie and small business types who do not get much aid from the state and are often economically pretty marginal. They are just one illness, accident or economic crisis away from joining the poor or the working class themselves and they do not like that idea at all. Unlike the big boys, they do not have armies or laywers and lobbyists in Washington to get whatever they want out if the government.

Historically speaking, it was this class of small capitalists fearful of being "proletarianized" who were the original foot soldiers of fascism in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s--far more so than the real working class ever was. They could turn the same way again if this depression gets worse: it's in the air.

reply to post by witness63


I think you are confused.

1. neo-classical Keynesian's didn't see the collapse coming, the Austrian's saw it clear as day - and they don't even focus on making predictions.

2. As I pointed out in the OP, capitalism played no role in our debt implosion.

Austrian economist and investment banker Peter Schiff back in 2006:

Originally posted by aravoth
People drive drunk all the time and never get caught. DUI's are simply fines for having something in your bloodstream, not for bad driving. This is why DUI Checkpoints exist, because not every drunk driver mows down a school bus.

If you are saying that DUI is not a deterring factor, I strongly disagree. because it is for me and a lot of people I know.

You just believe that without the holy intervention of your sacred government, everyone would go insane and become drunken idiots. How did you survive this long without someone telling you to breath?

I did fine, thank you. I think I smell demagoguery on your breath, though. Having solid laws keeping society from madness is not the same as "telling how to breath". Given the pompous nature of your statement, I would think you get this.

To your second point, when a business goes bankrupt it's profitable sections are purchased by it's rivals and it's employees rehired because they are skilled labor, already trained.

Dude, I was asking what happened to the money I put in the commercial bank that issued a loan to the business which went kaput. I don't give a rat's @ss about the liquidation procedures.

reply to post by mnemeth1


In my opinion, it will never happen. As long as people WANT money there will be money. Once, people learn that they actually don't NEED money that will be the day money becomes non-existant. However, that doesn't mean they aren't trying to hoarde as much of it as they can and keep us with as a little as possible.

Originally posted by buddhasystem


I did fine, thank you. I think I smell demagoguery on your breath, though. Having solid laws keeping society from madness is not the same as "telling how to breath". Given the pompous nature of your statement, I would think you get this.

edit on 23-9-2010 by buddhasystem because: (no reason given)

Laws don't keep society from madness. Nazi Germany had plenty of laws. I would think you would get that.

Originally posted by witness63
I hate to tell you this, but Karl Marx was 100% right when he said that capitalism was a very unstable system, given to cycles of boom and bust, and also to concentrating so much wealth at the top that it finally just collpases.

The Boom is created by central planners manipulating interest rates which encourages investment into specific areas of the economy. The Bust is the natural result of that central planning. As the market is not permitted to adjust on it's own. Instead the Government tries to continue the boom, but this inevitably creates another bust. in another sector.

You can't party like a drunken fool forever.

Marx was horribly wrong. A system of capitalism does not include in it's model the use of a central bank, or central planning.

Free market can not be free, because there will be ALWAYS competition. Competition means cheating, lying, creating cartels, destroying competitors, buying up small competitors or just forcing out of market by selling at loss, because they can afford.

Capitalism, free market is a sick joke - nearly as sick as communism.

Originally posted by aravoth

Originally posted by witness63

The Boom is created by central planners manipulating interest rates which encourages investment into specific areas of the economy. The Bust is the natural result of that central planning. As the market is not permitted to adjust on it's own. Instead the Government tries to continue the boom, but this inevitably creates another bust. in another sector.

You can't party like a drunken fool forever.

Marx was horribly wrong. A system of capitalism does not include in it's model the use of a central bank, or central planning.

If capitalism has no central bank, the why was the Bank of England created in the 17th Century, when capitalism was still in its early stages in England?

Why did Alexander Hamilton create a Bank of the US copied from the Bank of England, in order to industrialize the country? Jefferson, the Southern planters and small farmers oppsed these plans, although the big capitalists always favored a central bank, going back to the 17th and 18th Centuries.

Thanks for spelling out what many of us thinking people understand, and why the mainstream news outlets drive people like me nuts. Capitalism is not synonymous with greed or evil. Capitalism is the engine that provides food, and goods to people all over the globe.

Keep speaking the truth!

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