Can you see the middle-class getting crushed?
I do ok. But, I pay attention to my expenditures. Maybe it's because we were on a tight budget when I was a kid. The other day I had my old pickup in the shop for routine oil change and new shocks/struts. $3400. I didn't gripe about it. But, I happened to have a nice conversation with the shop manager and later let him know that I wanted to chat with him about this price. Made it clear I'm not griping...I just want his take on why it's so damned expensive. He called me a couple nights ago and we had a nice conversation. Essentially, just about all the parts are made in China. Parts pricing has pretty much tripled over the past 5 years. Can't find anybody who wants to work - and they're billing out their workers at a rate that's not far from what I'm billed out. And, I'm billed out for a lot. The thought I can't shake is - How in the hell does a young middle-class family make ends meet these days? With auto expenses like this, gas and energy so expensive, grocery prices lately, and a mortgage? It feels like people have always been saying this. But, I'm at the stage where I'm making good dough...and it's getting my attention(?). I remember reading "The Millionaire Next Door" many years ago and being shocked that the norm was to live on credit cards, ARMs for oversized homes, and financially just saying "screw it". Maybe that's what's going on. I just don't see how this continues and we have a middle-class in America in 30 years.
Price hasn't changed per my mechanic. Rear are same price. Synthetic oil/filter change about $65.
Your costs do appear to be high.
That said, I agree with your point on how costly everything is compared to a decade ago.
Food costs are over 100% higher in many cases compared to only 5 years ago.
I suspect things will get worse, not better, unless the Fed is eliminated, income tax is repealed,
and 'credit' is greatly reduced. Maybe when credit cards are not handed out regardless of
ability to pay (at insane rates of interest), then people will have to consider saving instead of
buying every worthless Chinese-made trinket. The throw-away and replace mindset must change.
The banking cartel gets credit for virtually no cost, charges granny 20%-30%, and gets bailed
out by mom and pop when the bankster gambles fail as they predictably do. This has been
Standard Procedure con-game by banksters for 112 years - creating and expanding a financial
bubble until it pops and foreclosing on honest marks for profit.
Repeal the Federal Reserve Act, seize all bankster assets ill-gotten under the corrupt Fed, and
replace the banking cartel with banks that risk their own invested capital with no hope for
bailouts. Let a free market prevail. Real property prices must plummet and Wall St be damned.
Those who have gained the most with the least effort should be the ones who experience the
pain of deflation to actual values. Reduction of government meddling by more than 50%
must also be done to open the way for growth by the free market.
DOGE and Trump appear to be on the right track to save the people of the states united.
I hope they live long enough to see the restoration of individual liberty and free markets here.
You really want to know why (for the first time in US history) our children won't have a better life then their parents?
It's a rigged system, a big club, and we ain't in it.
The Federal Reserve, which isn't Federal and has no reserves, prints our currency at interest, totally unconstitutional.
It allows a totally corrupt Con-Gress to spend money (on things we didn't ask for, or in most cases, didn't need), with absolutely no plan on how to repay it.
Are they totally stupid, or just that dirty.
Trump and Musk are uncovering the fraud waste and abuse to a degree we didn't think was possible in our worst nightmares.
Everyday a new allegation surfaces that is even more disturbing than the day before.
Leaked Emails and internal memos are coming out the elite party leaders are in full control to the State Run Media spiking any story that exposes corruption fraud and waste. Instead feeding the public with transparently false cover stories, out-right lies or fluff stories that no-one gives a shite about.
The more and louder these dirt-bag politicians squeal, the deeper they are into the mud the guiltier they are likely to be.
Our Republic is on fire, and our so-called government is far more interested in keeping the graft and corruption going than anything resembling honest and responsible governance.
We, the people, are the stupid ones for letting them do it, and not having a revolution.
That shop is a 65 mile drive away, but was worth the trip when I had a engine power problem 6 months ago.
Replacement of the cat wasn't cheap, but its running like new again at 26 years old.
In about 2012, I was in a junkyard in Dallas, pulling parts off a Cherokee to go on mine. Sadly, the one I was getting parts from was the exact same model, in much better shape than mine, nearly pristine, except for the goop they had poured into the engine and transmission to destroy them. But the owner got his $250 from Obama to do this. What a waste.
Many thanks to that pointy-headed Kenyan sucker of other people's ducks.
The Fed dumps money in the system. This devalues your monies. The banks and the large corporations are the first to the feeding trough. You and I are further down the chain which devalues the monies further.
Go and read Walter Donway's post from a few days ago.
https://www.galtsgulchonline.com/post...
I'm topping off on silver next week. And making equal investment in the raw materials I can project for two years.
1987: -22.6%
1989-90: -85% (NASDAQ)
2000: -52%
2007-09: -57%
2010 -17%
2020: -34%
This year the market went down from 45K down to 41.8K, a -7.1% change, and people are running around with their hair on fire.
The stock market is a casino, anyone who hasn't figured that out yet, should not be in the stock market.
It's a rigged system, a big club, and we ain't in it.
The Federal Reserve, which isn't Federal and has no reserves, prints our currency at interest, totally unconstitutional.
It allows a totally corrupt Con-Gress to spend money (on things we didn't ask for, or in most cases, didn't need), with absolutely no plan on how to repay it.
Are they totally stupid, or just that dirty.
Trump and Musk are uncovering the fraud waste and abuse to a degree we didn't think was possible in out worst nightmares.
Everyday a new allegation surfaces that is even more disturbing than the day before.
Leaked Emails and internal memos are coming out the elite party leaders are in full control to the State Run Media spiking any story that exposes corruption fraud and waste. Instead feeding the public with transparently false cover stories, out-right lies or fluff stories that no-one gives a shite about.
The more and louder these dirt-bag politicians squeal, the deeper they are into the mud the guiltier they are likely to be.
Our Republic is on fire, and our so-called government is far more interested in keeping the graft and corruption going than anything resembling honest and responsible governance.
The Government can use the Fed to spend recklessly like an unlimited credit card that you pay for. The Politicians rack up crippling debt, spent on welfare to buy votes and creates a dependent lower class, and some would argue – enable wars, which would not be approved and could not be financed otherwise. All the while the Banks collect interest.
More in depth see - https://02f8c87.netsolhost.com/WordPr...