Here in the land of ‘spin’ where almost everything you see, read or hear has to be passed through a major bullshit filter, we encounter this story that asks How long can you tread water?
The ‘average’ US consumer is buried under a mountian of credit card debt. Over the past three years people have shied away from hitting their cards because A.) they were already max’d out or B.) the amount they had available was insufficient to buy ‘goodies’. Credit cards have reverted to their ‘original’ use/selling point…’emergency cash’.
Most of you are aware that prices are spiraling upwards, some would even say they are ‘out of control’ but the ‘creative accountants’ that use wishful thinking to keep our financial sector solvent disagree.
According to them inflation is almost ‘immeasurable’.
So good citizen, I ask you, not for the first time and definitely not the last, how long can you tread water?
Ever since the United States emerged from the recession, economists have been watching for signs that Americans are spending again.
The most recent data show that revolving credit was up 2.9 percent in March compared with February, only the second monthly increase since late 2008.
This year, evidence is building that they are — with every swipe of their credit cards.
In the most recent quarter, covering January to March, American Express, MasterCard and Visa all reported increases in card spending. Business and consumer spending in the United States helped propel that growth, along with global growth and an increase in merchants that accept cards.
So, is the US consumer ‘recovering’ or are they instead, ‘up against it’ again and resorting to their credit cards to ‘stretch’ their anemic paychecks?
In a related story Mr. Williams over at SGS has the following to report:
No. 368: April Inflation, Retail Sales, Trade Deficit
Subscription required
May 13th, 2011
• April Year-to-Year Consumer Inflation: 3.2% (CPI-U), 3.6% (CPI-W), 10.7% (SGS)
• Fed’s Dollar Debasement Efforts Boost Three-Month CPI Inflation into 6% to 7% Range
• Official Double-Digit Consumer Inflation Possible in Third-Quarter
• With Rising Prices Dominating Sales Gains, “Core” Retail Sales Were Unchanged in April
This is a piece of the puzzle they don’t want you to connect. That ‘quantative easing’ translates directly into ‘diluting your purchasing power’, something the ‘deflationista’s’ don’t get!
YOU won’t see falling prices. What YOU will see is (madly) shrinking purchasing power, cleverly disguised as irrationally rising prices.
And your employer will claim he ‘can’t afford’ to pay you more…which will mean you ‘can’t afford’ to continue working for him!
Worse, you won’t have the luxury of ‘toughing it out’ until something better comes along, you’ll just have to bite the bullet and stop digging the hole deeper.
The ‘answer’ of when to cut and run lies in your expense picture. When the expense you incur getting to and from your job leaves you with a ‘heat or eat’ decision, it’s time to quit and get your ass down to the local food bank!
If you’re ‘making it work’ by eating bread filled with cat food you should have quit the cheap bastard a long time ago!
Sounds pathetic but this is where the situation is headed.
How sad is it that the most ‘efficient’ way for a company to increase its bottom line is by squeezing YOU the employee/customer?
MOST people aren’t on bread and cat food (yet)
I suspect, truth be told, that the number of people just one medical emergency from homelessness is far greater than anyone imagines…
It is a ‘no brainer’ that a vast majority of us are living ‘hand to mouth’. It cracks me up to hear investment professionals sagely advise that one should have 2 million dollars set aside if they hope to enjoy a comfortable retirement.
Bubba, the minimum wage was $1.35 an hour when I started working, even if I saved EVERY PENNY I ever earned, I’d be a million and a half light!
Naturally, one would have to have ‘invested wisely’ when building their nest egg. How sad is it that only a rather substantial inheritance or a lottery hit would provide you with the necessary capital to be sitting on 2 million dollars on the day you are eligible to hang up your spurs.
If not for social security, most of us would be faced with abject destitution upon our ‘forced’ retirement, thanks to the ‘fuck you, pay me’ commerce system we have been saddled with.
Couple that with the ‘unemployability’ of most people over 50 and you’d have a real crisis waiting in the wings!
And if you don’t think that is indeed the case go back and read my opening statement again.
These cold-blooded reptiles lie for a reason! (The truth would get them lynched!)
Hell, I’m predicting necktie parties, real soon!
Are you ready?
Thanks for letting me inside your head,
Gegner
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