You have accurately described the America that my kids and I live in. I am retired and have worked to have a comfortable retirement. My income is abut $70,000 per year and I live in a 650 square foot part of a home that I share with my son and his family. Sharing a home makes it possible for us to share expenses. I feel fortunate as my children and grandchildren are unable to buy a home in this housing climate. The average cost of a home in my area is $484,000. The mortgage on that is just impossible for my family members. I feel like my generation was the last generation to live in a country where the average person can own a home and save for their retirement. The feeling of security that I had is now gone for the majority.
It is not just other Americans the wealthy and corporations are stealing from, it is planet wide. I recently ran some numbers on the pay package suggested for Elon Musk, 29 billion, comparing it to the Kenya average median income. If Elon's package was equally distributed, 15 million Kenyans could double their annual income. That is just one billionaire, albeit a ridiculous, self-centered lout. Distribution is one part of the problem, the other (arguably more important) is the strain on the planet generated by this inequity. Affluenza is a disease affecting the planet, https://substack.com/home/post/p-171795161
Thanks for this posting. The data is rich, even as it exposes the impoverishment generated by the problem.
Oligarchs have always ruled over the peasantry. Even here in the U.S., our beloved country was founded by them, established by them, developed using their rules (and our labor)…where their manipulation was game planned out and conducted behind closed conference room and Board room doors in secret. Meanwhile, they told the America’s peasantry that its voice in Democracy was paramount to Democracy’s success and Election Day was our day to be heard. It was a perfect system that worked for 250 years, despite a few uprisings by the peasants from time to time; but we all generally bought into it, with many of the peasantry giving their lives in battle to defend this Democratic Capitalist system. But a 250-year success story wasn’t enough to satisfy the oligarchs’ endless hunger for wealth. They realized they could obtain even more if they came out of the shadows, controlled Democracy’s three branches of government by putting puppets in charge, and dismantling government and the regulatory state from within. Record profits are already being realized for them, while the peasantry suffers (as this article accurately describes). The peasantry is fighting back though. We’re currently in Day 2 of a five day nationwide economic blackout (see blackoutthesystem.org) which has followed on the heals of multiple economic boycotts of big corporations like Target, Amazon, and Walmart, promoted by The People’s Union USA. The peasantry is rising just like we have throughout history. We should expect multiple setbacks over the coming decades, but in the end, the peasants will win this fight and the oligarchs heads will be on a spike. The only question then becomes, what system will we create to replace this failed one? Corbet suggests one for our consideration. Sharpen your pitchforks, everyone!
The system you’re pointing out is not democracy but globalization and its father, neo-liberalism. The seeds were sown in the 70s as a direct result of the prosperity that did in fact ‘trickle down’ to many white Americans following the Second World War. The problem was that not enough (in their honest opinion, I’m sure) was being consigned to the very top. They wanted more. And more. And even more still. When the Democratic Party bought into the idea of a ‘Third Way’ to stanch the bleeding from losing the South, and began courting Wall Street the way they have previously courted the working class, we were literally doomed. We were no longer on an even footing.
So, how do we turn this around? I live on a brick paved street—if you tell me to get out my pick axe and start prepping, I’ll gladly do it. But I want something more pro-active than just screaming at the heavens. And I’m 69 years old (in good health), but sonny, I don’t have all day, got it?
Whew that's great data. Thank for being that kind of person who can distill this 'stuff' and make a presentation for those of us who see it and don't need hard evidence to prove the truth of what we are living in. I'm hopeful this info will make adifference to those still supporting today's politics Thanks Corbin
This needs to be shouted from the rooftops. If I were still teaching, I'd make my students read this and write about it. The lies being told from the Snake Oil Salesman in Chief remind me ot Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, when Hank Morgan (the time traveller) tells workers about how wages for their work will skyrocket in the future. What they fail to realize is that the cost of everything will also rise, and--as we see today--that cost has risen faster than our wages. We are not fuck-ups. The trouble is: too many people who think that of themselves are angry, and Trump has capltalized on that anger.
Hi Corbin. No, nothing you researched surprised me. The only thing I saw was that, due to the two dimensional nature of graphs, the truth is actually much worse.
What stood out the most? That every category was contextually interconnected to one behavior - overconsumption absent mitigation. You like the idea of building stuff. All building, all breeding, all improvements in lifestyle, and emotions linked to calm, peace, tranquility, are based upon wanton consumption of every benign planetary source/resource - and there are ZERO efforts at one-to-one, real-time mitigation. Pollution and waste are everywhere, fueled by overconsumption. Our citizenry are pigs. And it is highly skewed toward the wealthy. Trump used 5 million gallons of jet fuel campaigning. 28 acre feet of fuel. To insult people's intelligence. Even the homeless waste. Litter is their most obvious marker. Why do 'murkans hate trash? Because we drown in it daily.
But the worst truth of your essay is that you ignored the foundational elements of human misery. You point out the causes and effects without touching, or mentioning the real reasons we are such a trainwreck - we lack the ability to live our lives with love and compassion. We jeer these behaviors, we punish them, we scoff at them, we refute them with purposeful, vengeful violence, by the micro-second. Woke is the enemy. Empathy is weakness. Kindness can only be practiced as selfishness. Taking, taking, taking is the hallmark of success. All else is failure, to be hated and feared and assaulted.
We are a nation, and humans are an organism grounded in hatred, of self and others. What causes hate? The Denial of Fear. Fear, as an emotion, is a good thing, it provides opportunities to become observant and reflective, to heighten awareness, to observe phenomena outside our own skulls. Denial of fear is succumbing to it. The uber-wealthy are by far the worst - Their entire gestalt is dedicated to erasing it from their psyches via egregious, violent over-consumption.
To deny the obvious is to be stupid. What form does this take? Lying about everything, which is what you show so obviously in your charts. Denial is the murderer, the true assassin, that lurks inside the brain of every human. Always 'them.' Always the 'other.' If memory serves me, in recorded history there have been a mere 37 years without armed conflict at an organized level.
In actuality, humans kill every second, each other, wildlife, plants, microbes. We putrefy every existing piece of matter, everything. And we do it with utmost inefficiency. We are sloppy, lazy killers. We do not even clean up our killing messes, unless we need room for yet more killing.
We would have reasoned that, after WW1-2, we would have had enough of this idiocy. Nah, humans love violence, as long as someone else is on the receiving end. And now, the democratic ideal that pledged to stop this crappy behavior never made it out of the workshop. 'murka, like it or not, suppress it or not, make it a crime to even know it/show it, or not, is a country built upon crass violence, fear, bigotry, prejudice, misogyny and GREED.
You say the reality is much worse than the numbers show? Yup. Five earners - four earn 20k$, one earns 100k$. Average earnings 36k$. 80 percent would have nearly doubled their income with this illusion of numbers.
We have been gaslighted with Newspeak to the point of absurdity. We are addicted to the illusion of economy being the only reality, and that economy is Friedman's profit is god and all else is justified punishment in earthly hell. What utter nonsense, and what an utter superhighway with no speed limits on the Road to Perdition.
Our real work left, if we are to survive, ourselves, is to confront ourselves. WE are petty, feckless, delusional and ultra-violent. Nothing can survive that. Avarice will finally yield only one human remaining. Then the women used as harems will kill the last male, without collecting his sperm since the lessons learned are all learned by women. Boys just cannot be parented, they are somehow finally incapable of reason or empathy.
When making the economic comparisons one must start after the formation of OPEC. The price of petroleum quadrupled with the onset of the Yom Kippur war of 1974 which led to 20% interest rates by 1980, a whole new world was created. Though one can't blame OPEC for receiving their fair share of profits, we just didn't know how to conserve.
I agree with all your words and the comments. Another fact that I always think about is the obscene interest rates on credit cards! 25-30% or more!
In my youth, that would be called "loan shark" rates.
So, if you are in debt, good luck getting out of it with those interest rates.
AND,,what interest rates do we get on a checking or even savings account??????
I don't know the exact rate today, but I do know it is Pathetically Low. I keep several thousand monthly in a checking account on average, and I get 2 cents most of the time! That's my 2 cents! 😀, but 😡
Well substantively --issue wise -- you are on point. However, with respect to the crisis both sides believe that the other side is broken and those believes transcend the issues unfortunately.
And why is that Corbin? Please elaborate. I was basing my statement on the existing data that I used in my Raw Story commentary yesterday entitled "How Trump is making America politically violent again"-- here's a link:
Gregg, didn’t read your commentary, because I don’t read anything I can’t click on the link and read immediately, versus wade through various subscription options windows to see if links are paywalled or not.
I can’t speak for Corbin, but while I can agree with your assessment that both sides often fall into you suck tribalism when using other side of the aisle analysis, there is mostly unanimity amongst the public that we have serious systemic rot that the blame game won’t fix, at least on a subconscious level.
The key, which I think Corbin is valiantly trying to address, is bringing that subconscious knowledge to the consciousness forefront, exemplified by a simple message: no politics but class politics.
You have accurately described the America that my kids and I live in. I am retired and have worked to have a comfortable retirement. My income is abut $70,000 per year and I live in a 650 square foot part of a home that I share with my son and his family. Sharing a home makes it possible for us to share expenses. I feel fortunate as my children and grandchildren are unable to buy a home in this housing climate. The average cost of a home in my area is $484,000. The mortgage on that is just impossible for my family members. I feel like my generation was the last generation to live in a country where the average person can own a home and save for their retirement. The feeling of security that I had is now gone for the majority.
It is not just other Americans the wealthy and corporations are stealing from, it is planet wide. I recently ran some numbers on the pay package suggested for Elon Musk, 29 billion, comparing it to the Kenya average median income. If Elon's package was equally distributed, 15 million Kenyans could double their annual income. That is just one billionaire, albeit a ridiculous, self-centered lout. Distribution is one part of the problem, the other (arguably more important) is the strain on the planet generated by this inequity. Affluenza is a disease affecting the planet, https://substack.com/home/post/p-171795161
Thanks for this posting. The data is rich, even as it exposes the impoverishment generated by the problem.
Oligarchs have always ruled over the peasantry. Even here in the U.S., our beloved country was founded by them, established by them, developed using their rules (and our labor)…where their manipulation was game planned out and conducted behind closed conference room and Board room doors in secret. Meanwhile, they told the America’s peasantry that its voice in Democracy was paramount to Democracy’s success and Election Day was our day to be heard. It was a perfect system that worked for 250 years, despite a few uprisings by the peasants from time to time; but we all generally bought into it, with many of the peasantry giving their lives in battle to defend this Democratic Capitalist system. But a 250-year success story wasn’t enough to satisfy the oligarchs’ endless hunger for wealth. They realized they could obtain even more if they came out of the shadows, controlled Democracy’s three branches of government by putting puppets in charge, and dismantling government and the regulatory state from within. Record profits are already being realized for them, while the peasantry suffers (as this article accurately describes). The peasantry is fighting back though. We’re currently in Day 2 of a five day nationwide economic blackout (see blackoutthesystem.org) which has followed on the heals of multiple economic boycotts of big corporations like Target, Amazon, and Walmart, promoted by The People’s Union USA. The peasantry is rising just like we have throughout history. We should expect multiple setbacks over the coming decades, but in the end, the peasants will win this fight and the oligarchs heads will be on a spike. The only question then becomes, what system will we create to replace this failed one? Corbet suggests one for our consideration. Sharpen your pitchforks, everyone!
Agreed, it's always been Lords & Serfs; probably Milton Bradley's next new board game.
You should copyright that idea and sell it to them!
The system you’re pointing out is not democracy but globalization and its father, neo-liberalism. The seeds were sown in the 70s as a direct result of the prosperity that did in fact ‘trickle down’ to many white Americans following the Second World War. The problem was that not enough (in their honest opinion, I’m sure) was being consigned to the very top. They wanted more. And more. And even more still. When the Democratic Party bought into the idea of a ‘Third Way’ to stanch the bleeding from losing the South, and began courting Wall Street the way they have previously courted the working class, we were literally doomed. We were no longer on an even footing.
So, how do we turn this around? I live on a brick paved street—if you tell me to get out my pick axe and start prepping, I’ll gladly do it. But I want something more pro-active than just screaming at the heavens. And I’m 69 years old (in good health), but sonny, I don’t have all day, got it?
Whew that's great data. Thank for being that kind of person who can distill this 'stuff' and make a presentation for those of us who see it and don't need hard evidence to prove the truth of what we are living in. I'm hopeful this info will make adifference to those still supporting today's politics Thanks Corbin
This needs to be shouted from the rooftops. If I were still teaching, I'd make my students read this and write about it. The lies being told from the Snake Oil Salesman in Chief remind me ot Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, when Hank Morgan (the time traveller) tells workers about how wages for their work will skyrocket in the future. What they fail to realize is that the cost of everything will also rise, and--as we see today--that cost has risen faster than our wages. We are not fuck-ups. The trouble is: too many people who think that of themselves are angry, and Trump has capltalized on that anger.
Hi Corbin. No, nothing you researched surprised me. The only thing I saw was that, due to the two dimensional nature of graphs, the truth is actually much worse.
What stood out the most? That every category was contextually interconnected to one behavior - overconsumption absent mitigation. You like the idea of building stuff. All building, all breeding, all improvements in lifestyle, and emotions linked to calm, peace, tranquility, are based upon wanton consumption of every benign planetary source/resource - and there are ZERO efforts at one-to-one, real-time mitigation. Pollution and waste are everywhere, fueled by overconsumption. Our citizenry are pigs. And it is highly skewed toward the wealthy. Trump used 5 million gallons of jet fuel campaigning. 28 acre feet of fuel. To insult people's intelligence. Even the homeless waste. Litter is their most obvious marker. Why do 'murkans hate trash? Because we drown in it daily.
But the worst truth of your essay is that you ignored the foundational elements of human misery. You point out the causes and effects without touching, or mentioning the real reasons we are such a trainwreck - we lack the ability to live our lives with love and compassion. We jeer these behaviors, we punish them, we scoff at them, we refute them with purposeful, vengeful violence, by the micro-second. Woke is the enemy. Empathy is weakness. Kindness can only be practiced as selfishness. Taking, taking, taking is the hallmark of success. All else is failure, to be hated and feared and assaulted.
We are a nation, and humans are an organism grounded in hatred, of self and others. What causes hate? The Denial of Fear. Fear, as an emotion, is a good thing, it provides opportunities to become observant and reflective, to heighten awareness, to observe phenomena outside our own skulls. Denial of fear is succumbing to it. The uber-wealthy are by far the worst - Their entire gestalt is dedicated to erasing it from their psyches via egregious, violent over-consumption.
To deny the obvious is to be stupid. What form does this take? Lying about everything, which is what you show so obviously in your charts. Denial is the murderer, the true assassin, that lurks inside the brain of every human. Always 'them.' Always the 'other.' If memory serves me, in recorded history there have been a mere 37 years without armed conflict at an organized level.
In actuality, humans kill every second, each other, wildlife, plants, microbes. We putrefy every existing piece of matter, everything. And we do it with utmost inefficiency. We are sloppy, lazy killers. We do not even clean up our killing messes, unless we need room for yet more killing.
We would have reasoned that, after WW1-2, we would have had enough of this idiocy. Nah, humans love violence, as long as someone else is on the receiving end. And now, the democratic ideal that pledged to stop this crappy behavior never made it out of the workshop. 'murka, like it or not, suppress it or not, make it a crime to even know it/show it, or not, is a country built upon crass violence, fear, bigotry, prejudice, misogyny and GREED.
You say the reality is much worse than the numbers show? Yup. Five earners - four earn 20k$, one earns 100k$. Average earnings 36k$. 80 percent would have nearly doubled their income with this illusion of numbers.
We have been gaslighted with Newspeak to the point of absurdity. We are addicted to the illusion of economy being the only reality, and that economy is Friedman's profit is god and all else is justified punishment in earthly hell. What utter nonsense, and what an utter superhighway with no speed limits on the Road to Perdition.
Our real work left, if we are to survive, ourselves, is to confront ourselves. WE are petty, feckless, delusional and ultra-violent. Nothing can survive that. Avarice will finally yield only one human remaining. Then the women used as harems will kill the last male, without collecting his sperm since the lessons learned are all learned by women. Boys just cannot be parented, they are somehow finally incapable of reason or empathy.
When making the economic comparisons one must start after the formation of OPEC. The price of petroleum quadrupled with the onset of the Yom Kippur war of 1974 which led to 20% interest rates by 1980, a whole new world was created. Though one can't blame OPEC for receiving their fair share of profits, we just didn't know how to conserve.
I agree with all your words and the comments. Another fact that I always think about is the obscene interest rates on credit cards! 25-30% or more!
In my youth, that would be called "loan shark" rates.
So, if you are in debt, good luck getting out of it with those interest rates.
AND,,what interest rates do we get on a checking or even savings account??????
I don't know the exact rate today, but I do know it is Pathetically Low. I keep several thousand monthly in a checking account on average, and I get 2 cents most of the time! That's my 2 cents! 😀, but 😡
Well substantively --issue wise -- you are on point. However, with respect to the crisis both sides believe that the other side is broken and those believes transcend the issues unfortunately.
That’s where I’m not sure you’re correct.
And why is that Corbin? Please elaborate. I was basing my statement on the existing data that I used in my Raw Story commentary yesterday entitled "How Trump is making America politically violent again"-- here's a link:
https://www.rawstory.com/how-donald-trump-is-making-america-politically-violent-again/
Gregg, didn’t read your commentary, because I don’t read anything I can’t click on the link and read immediately, versus wade through various subscription options windows to see if links are paywalled or not.
I can’t speak for Corbin, but while I can agree with your assessment that both sides often fall into you suck tribalism when using other side of the aisle analysis, there is mostly unanimity amongst the public that we have serious systemic rot that the blame game won’t fix, at least on a subconscious level.
The key, which I think Corbin is valiantly trying to address, is bringing that subconscious knowledge to the consciousness forefront, exemplified by a simple message: no politics but class politics.