The American Dream Is Dead | Zero Hedge
Description: The top 0.1% owns as many assets as the bottom 90%. And it’s getting worse...

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# The American Dream Is Dead

Authored by Georges Abi-Heila via Medium.com,

The top 0.1% owns as many assets as the bottom 90%. And it’s getting worse...

One of America’s founding myth is that of the “self-made man”: the idea that, with enough work & dedication, anybody can climb the social ladder and become wealthy. Or at least better off than his or her parents.

Well, that’s complete bullshit.

Data shows that the most important drivers of one’s living standard are determined at birth: most of the people who are poor are so because they made the mistake of being born to the wrong parents.

> “No matter what your educational background is, where you start has become increasingly important for where you end”

> - Michael D. Carr, economist at the University of Massachusetts

Now the goal of this article is not to languish and complain. By providing a fact-based analysis of the unfairness of our society, I aim to foster empathy and gratitude in the reader’s mind. Acknowledging the luck you have is the starting point towards greater generosity and happiness.

Let’s dig into the facts.

### We live in a profoundly unfair society

… and it’s getting worse every year.

Most of the nation’s economic growth over the past 30 years has gone to the top 0.1%. Inequality is now approaching the extreme level that prevailed prior to the Great Depression.

The top 10% households own ~80% of the wealth.

In fact, inequality is so high that a third of the population has no wealth at alland the top 0.1% owns as many assets as the bottom 90%.

Raw statistics are perfect tools for transmitting the truth of facts but they lack the emotional baggage that a story can deliver. There’s nothing better than tears, blood and immersive storytelling to mobilise people.

I’m unfortunately not very good at that, but I can still rephrase the statistics: if the US was a village of 1000 people, there’s 1 guy that has more money than 900 other villagers combined...

The top 0.1% owns as many assets as the bottom 90%

We can manipulate numbers and discuss hypotheses as much as we’d like: the reality is staggering. Research centers, in their vast majority and coming from all political backgrounds, have drawn the very same conclusion: the US is — by far —the most unequal society in the developed world. And things are getting worse every year.

The Gini coefficient is a number between 0 and 1, where 0 represents perfect equality and 1 perfect inequality (one person has all of the country’s income)

Now a lot of us can cope with that if there are good chances of improving our situation. If my household’s finances are better than my parents’, the society I’m living in would have enhanced my well-being.

That’s actually one of the cornerstones of modern capitalism: inequalities are accepted as long as the possibility of betterment exists. We tolerate unfairness as long as there are good chances of improving our condition.

The question is: what are the chances?

### Moving up is a lottery

… and most of us lose.

To better understand inequality of opportunity, social scientists and economists have increasingly shifted their attention to intergenerational mobility. By assessing the strength of the association between parents’ and offsprings’ income, we can get an approximation of the possibilities given to each generation on their quest for happiness.

So, is social mobility a plausible reality in modern day America?
Well, the answer is quite simply: no.

> “The probability of ending where you start has gone up, and the probability of moving up has gone down,”

> - Raj Chetty, economist at the National Bureau of Economic Research

According to a research paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research, US social mobility fell by more than 70% in the past half-century. If you feel that it’s getting harder to get ahead, you’re not being delusional: in 2016, about half of 30-year-olds earned less than their parents at the same age.

Social mobility is the exception, not the norm.

Another way to look at this is to study income growth.
Income growth is an interesting metric because it’s a proxy for “better quality of life”: with higher income comes increased purchasing power and better standards of living.

So how is the growth of income distributed among the population?
Well since 1979, all of the income gains have been captured by the top 1% and wages have stagnated for everybody else. This is one of the most depressing statistic I’ve ever read: it basically means that most households in the US have not seen any increase in their revenue since 30 years!

With remarkable consistency, the superrich have managed to capture all the productivity gains made by American workers and convert them to skyrocketing earnings...

For the last 40 years, income and wages have stagnated for most Americans.

The fact is, wealth is so unevenly distributed that one could argue that the US is a failing democracy: power is entirely held by an elite that’s never renewed and that captures all of the income gains.

But what does the 1% think about that? Do they feel empathy and gratitude?
Do they recognise their position being — for a great part — the result of luck and unfair advantages?

### Money makes people selfish

… the wealthier you are, the less empathetic you become.

Saying that wealth grants a lot power in today’s capitalistic societies is no great insight. Wealth is what makes you beautiful, what reduces your stress and daily fatigue, what grants you social prestige and education, what gives you time and freedom of choice. Wealth is a big deal.

But does wealth affect your behaviour? In other words, do emotional responses and rational thinking change when income increases? A team of scientists from UC Berkeley’s Institute of Personality and Social Research did a serie of fascinating experiments on this topic.

- The “Cookie Monster”

They first tried to measure if individuals feel more important than others when put in a position of power.

Different groups of three people were brought into a lab. In each group, one person was randomly assigned to be the “leader”. The groups were then given a collaborative writing task. About half an hour into their work, a plate with four cookies was brought: one for each person and one extra.

Who took the fourth extra cookie? In almost all cases it was the person who’d been made the leader. And they were more likely to eat with their mouths open and dropping crumbs. It just seems that, when put in a position of power, we tend to be more impulsive and less empathetic.

This pattern of increased selfishness has been consistently observed across similar studies.

- The “Rude Driver”

The goal here is to check if there’s a difference in driving behavior between the rich and the poor.

The researchers sat at specific crossroads, observing each driver’s attitude as an accomplice appeared on the edge of the curb while cars approached. The results were astonishing: people driving luxury cars like BMWs and Mercedes yielded to pedestrians twice as less as drivers of less expensive cars.

They also watched a 4-way stop intersection, noting when drivers cut in front of others when it was not their turn. The results? The more expensive cars were far more likely to jump their turn.

> “You just see this huge boost in a driver’s likelihood to commit infractions in more expensive cars”

> - Paul K. Piff, Professor of Psychology at UC Berkeley

- The “Stoic Listener”

This experiment’s objective is to assess wether level of empathy is affected by how powerful the subject considers himself.

Subjects sat down in a face-to-face conversation with people who talked about experiences that had caused them suffering. The listeners’ responses were measured 2 ways: first by self-reported levels of compassion and second by electrocardiogram readings to determine the intensity of their emotional response.

The participants were also asked to rank themselves on questions measuring personal strengths (“I can get people to listen to what I say”) and weaknesses (“My wishes do not carry much weight’’). That allowed the researchers to place them on a “sense of power” scale.

The findings were hugely insightful: participants with a higher sense of power were far more likely to turn a blind eye their partner’s story. More precisely, they “experienced less distress, less compassion and exhibited greater autonomic emotion regulation”.

- The “Blind Observer”

This last study further confirms previous conclusions.

Participants were shown images of suffering — kids with cancer, for instance. People with a greater sense of power had less activation of a part of the brain that helps us connect to one another. To put it bluntly, they just seem less sensitive to what others are feeling.

> “When a person is suffering, upper-class individuals perceive these signals less well on average. They tend to underestimate the distress in their social environments.”

> - Jennifer E. Stellar, Professor of Psychology at UC Berkeley

Ultimately, it turns out wealth is a very good predictor for unethical behavior and reduced empathy. So what’s happening here? Do you magically become ungrateful & greedy when you buy a new Porsche? What are the psychological mechanisms at play?

### Money makes you feel special

… the richer you are, the more entitled you feel.

One thing’s for sure, the wealthy don’t seem to fully recognise their good fortune. If they did, the level of redistribution would be far greater than what it is and tax cuts wouldn’t be so popular among high income brackets.

It also seems that rich and poor largely disagree on factors that lead to success: according to a survey by the Pew Research Center, people with high income are much more likely to attribute success to hard work rather than to factors like luck or being in the right place at the right time.

Poor and rich people largely disagree on the factors of success.

That’s troubling, because we saw earlier that socio-economic background is the main predictor of an adult’s income and that social mobility is the exception, not the norm.

Most behavioral and social scientists know that our brains are fundamentally flawed and that our opinions are not as rational as we might think. Human cognition gives us great insights to why wealthy people tend to underestimate the role of luck in their careers.

- Hindsight bias

… also known as the “knew-it-all-along” effect

This term describes our tendency to rationalise unpredictable events. Humans have a natural inclination, after an event has occurred, to see it as having been predictable, despite there having been little or no objective basis for predicting it.

Physicians recalling clinical trials, historians describing outcomes of battles, judges trying to attribute responsibility of accidents: examples are numerous.

> All of a sudden people were telling me I was a born writer. This was absurd. […] What were the odds?

> - Michael Lewis recalling reactions after the publishing of his 1st book, “Liar’s poker”.

This bias operates with particular force for unusually successful outcomes. People don’t like to hear success explained away as luck — especially successful people. As they age and succeed, people feel their success was somehow inevitable.

- Availability heuristic

… also know as the “if-i-remember-it-it-must-be-important” effect

When making decisions or assessing situations, we tend to give a lot of importance to events we immediately recall; thus minimising the role of thing we forgot or never thought about. Under the availability heuristic, people tend to heavily weigh their judgments toward more recent and concrete information. One practical example is that opinions are biased toward the latest news.

A successful career is a subtle combination of multiple factors such as talent, capacity of concentration, amount of work, random encounters, family background, mental resilience, living environment, etc. The thing is, some of those factors are more frequent and easier to perceive than others.

We’re all vividly aware of how many hours we spend working every day and how dedicated (or not) we are. We can effortlessly recall the last time we pulled an all-nighter to deliver on time and how difficult this hugely-important-but-really-complicated project was. But do you perceive how lucky you are not to have been born in Mozambique? How privileged you are to have a college degree? How improbable was your encounter with your business partner? How blessed you are to be healthy and without handicap?

In the construct of our life stories, we unconsciously shrink crucial but abstract factors. Unknowingly, we use mental shortcuts that minor the importance of everything that’s not linked to our close environment. That’s why we tend to largely overestimate the impact we, as individuals, have on our life paths.

In an existence led by randomness, humans tend to overemphasise their personal performance because they’re biased towards their own day-to-day experience.

- Negative memory

… also know as the “we don’t care about planes that arrive on time”

A well known cognitive bias is that we recall negative events more frequently and more intensely than positive ones. For example, it’s been proven that we’re usually more upset about losing $50 than we are happy about gaining $50. The same applies to negative feedback, delayed flights, lost games, etc. The effect of those negative experiences is much more powerful than their positive counterparts.

> “Almost everyone remembers negative things more strongly and in more detail.”

> - Clifford Nass, professor of communication at Stanford University

From an evolutionary perspective this is justified: survival requires urgent attention to possible bad outcomes (and less urgent to good ones). But in today’s world, it’s a major flaw in our decision-making capabilities. Looking back at our life-choices, we’ll always be more aware of the hurdles and obstacles we faced than of the things that helped us. Think of it as cognitive ungratefulness.

### Recognise your luck and practice empathy

… we’re not as great as we think we are.

I feel that we’re at a tipping point. Inequalities are at a record high, social mobility is at a record low, and our elite’s moral values don’t seem to converge towards better redistribution or benevolent sharing.

The extremely wealthy, besides concentrating the vast majority of assets and income gains of the country, fail to truly recognise the role of luck in their good fortune.

This is dangerous because it’s a breeding ground for desperation and hopelessness. When people lose faith in the possibility of improving their condition, when they realise the American Dream has become nothing but a myth, they will resort to extreme means. The subtle combination of political lies, corporate story-telling and public ignorance that has maintained social peace may not last forever.

If a tiny minority has all the wealth, if income is stagnating for 9 citizens out of 10, if chances of climbing are minuscule, isn’t rebellion justified?

Tags
Auto & Truck Manufacturers - NEC

## Comments

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HillaryOdor Wed, 05/09/2018 - 21:49 Permalink

Everyone knows it's getting worse. The question is why. Everyone thinks they know the answer here too, but just about everyone is dead wrong, including the author of this garbage. People are not losing opportunities because "the rich" aren't "sharing." People are losing opportunities because the government makes being productive goddamn near impossible. There are far too many laws and too much government. They have their nose in literally everything. You need a goddamn license to cut hair for Christ's sake.

You want to be prosperous? Learn how a prosperous society forms. You want to take the easy way and vote for government to steal for you? Then you don't really want to prosper, and you don't deserve anything. You'll get no sympathy from me.

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Tallest Skil HillaryOdor Wed, 05/09/2018 - 21:50 Permalink

The answer is jews. Quit whining and pretending you’re profound.

In reply to Everyone knows it's getting… by HillaryOdor

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HillaryOdor Tallest Skil Wed, 05/09/2018 - 21:52 Permalink

Ah yes the Jews did it all. The other 300 million people had no agency, made no bad choices on their own, and were completely powerless to the jews' sorcery! If we just kill all the Jews we'll be in Utopia. So profound. Why didn't I think of that? I guess I'm just not as smart as you are.

In reply to The answer is jews. Quit… by Tallest Skil

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StackShinyStuff HillaryOdor Wed, 05/09/2018 - 22:12 Permalink

Horseshit. I started out born to poor parents. Worked my ass off and have enough. Not rich by any measure but not poor. And I saved and stopped listening to the experts who told me how I needed to invest and diversify. Now I am sitting on a fat stack, treasuries and cash. Enough to keep me comfortable for the rest of my life. And yes I also have a substantial long position in lead. So fuck all these assholes who demand to be victims. Molon Labe and gold bitchez. And stop blaming the Joos. Just stop playing the game. And stop being Goddamn victims.

In reply to Ah yes the Jews did it all. … by HillaryOdor

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HRH of Aquitaine 2.0 StackShinyStuff Wed, 05/09/2018 - 22:19 Permalink

Same here. As far as growing up poor. I can't stand the people that have a victim mentality. It beings out the worst in me and drives me cray cray to no end. Fucking losers.

Even poor people live better than kings and queens did 400 years ago. Ignorant, ungrateful fucktards.

The tax mules funding this insanity are living the American nightmare.

In reply to Horseshit. I started out… by StackShinyStuff

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revolla HRH of Aquitaine 2.0 Wed, 05/09/2018 - 22:48 Permalink

The DREAM has become a NIGHTMARE.

Karma for perpetuating the Greatest Injustice of the 20th Century.

In reply to Same here. As far as… by HRH of Aquitaine 2.0

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techpriest revolla Wed, 05/09/2018 - 23:10 Permalink

Haven't seen our resident socialists chime in yet, so I'll pose some questions:

Question 1: What amount of assets will the top 0.1% have if the bond, equity, and RE markets tank, and will the "inequality" still be as severe?

Question 2: Since the article mentions the mid-80s, who was at the Fed during the mid to late 80s and 90s? How have his policies affected the situation?

In reply to The DREAM has become a… by revolla

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a Smudge by an… techpriest Thu, 05/10/2018 - 00:55 Permalink

l'll stand in till they get here.

1. Bond is a misogynist, Marx understood how all people should be equity and re-markets are awesome, we all get our clothes there.

2. Uh....Nixon?

In reply to Haven't seen our resident… by techpriest

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cheka a Smudge by an… Thu, 05/10/2018 - 06:51 Permalink

free trade open border globalism quantified

free trade as applied = corporatism of the monopolistic variety....where megacorps outrank the sovereigns and control the lawmakers

stop parroting the free trade propaganda that nyc has plied us with. insert any of many charts and stats that show the parasites are the beneficiaries and the working class is being sucked dry

In reply to l'll stand in till they get… by a Smudge by an…

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kralizec cheka Thu, 05/10/2018 - 07:46 Permalink

Time to storm, er...make that set fire to the Bastille.

In reply to free trade open border… by cheka

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Oldwood revolla Wed, 05/09/2018 - 23:21 Permalink

Sure it's getting worse.

It's getting worse exactly BECAUSE of articles like this.

The constant whining and "persecution" complex indoctrinated upon our society. We saw it first with blacks, first as slaves, deliberately kept ignorant of education and opportunities, and once liberated that policy became entrenched into our culture as affirmative action, reverse discrimination, set-asides, ALL designed to convince an entire race of Americans that they can't make it on their own. We indoctrinated blacks to a culture of poverty and dependency, left to believe their only path to prosperity is through redistribution, retribution, social and economic justice that can ONLY come from the power of a PROGRESSIVE government.

This poison has now infected the larger population and is perpetrating ROT.

I have always worked in the trades and there is no doubt that there are fewer people willing to try, but the funny thing is, those that do try are doing pretty damned well....in spite of the fact that we all SEE people around us sucking off the state titt and outwardly rubbing it in our faces, BUT they have only things, no pride, no accomplishments, no future beyond what they can scam and leach.

Diseased minds, an army of potential progressive zombies, only capable of mindless, conscienceless eating.

And then we have articles like this seeking to divide us, beg for moar redistribution as the only solution. Not work, not frugality and saving.

Our life is now supposed to be defined by what we consume, not what we produce.

What a shame.

In reply to The DREAM has become a… by revolla

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techpriest Oldwood Wed, 05/09/2018 - 23:50 Permalink

+1

In reply to Sure it's getting worse. It… by Oldwood

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a Smudge by an… techpriest Thu, 05/10/2018 - 01:15 Permalink

It's like my grandfather Winthrop Grumman Chesterfield III said, the illegitimati will never stop trying to tear down us self made men. This proved true through Phillips Exeter, summers in Switzerland and Nantucket, later in Harvard (I has Phi Beta Dipsie Doo) and indeed, now that I've taken over the firm. Indeed, it's something you wouldn't know unless you are one. Now be a good little dog and fuck off.

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bigloser HRH of Aquitaine 2.0 Wed, 05/09/2018 - 23:00 Permalink

> The tax mules funding this insanity are living the American nightmare.

Dude, that should be emblazoned on every highway overpass in America. You get 200 quadzillion upvotes and a special get out of jail free card for that one line.

People are so fucking stupid, but they're provisioned. They get their paychecks for doing dick work, nothing. They think they earned something, I guess. Most probably don't have the cognitive skills to even conjure that simple thought.

When I was 16 (1969) I figured the world was fucking rotten. I never bought into any of the bullshit. Now that I'm 64, I know I was right. I just played it badly. Honestly, I never liked working, never liked paying rent. Thus, I kind of fucked off my way through life and now I umpire little league games for $32 (CASH!!!) a shot. It's really easy work, and almost always fun.

I'm not happy. I'm not unhappy. I'm just there. Eventually, I'll just die and turn to dust or whatever happens when you go. I don't really care. I'm old enough that living for the moment is a pretty good gig. Other people, with aspirations and goals and jobs (idiots), I just listen to them and wonder where we went so wrong. I think about the things I did at their age. I was an idiot too. Maybe it will all even out somehow, though I have the feeling that the Blankefeins and F+Dimons of the world have an unfair advantage.

In reply to Same here. As far as… by HRH of Aquitaine 2.0

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conraddobler HRH of Aquitaine 2.0 Wed, 05/09/2018 - 23:31 Permalink

It has nothing at all to do with poverty.

Wealth, or the accumulation of it, has not got a damn thing to do with human liberty.

The truth of the matter is that people crowing about how they beat the system are entirely missing the point. The point isn't that you were intelligent and saved more than you spent.

The point is that a loop of human farming which has always existed has reached the end game of final explotation before extermination.

It does not matter what your individual heroics may or may not be, it's egotistical as hell to sit here and tell everyone not to be a victim.

NOT BECAUSE YOU ARE WRONG BUT BECAUSE YOU ARE TOTALLY MISSING THE POINT.

Yes of course peoples morals are in the shitter, yes of course people are acting more and more like victims, yes of course it's better to go your own way and save and not spend.

However that's not new, it's been true forever.

It's also been true forever that if you go against the grain and you can forgo spending now, for later, you will begin to accumulate wealth.

That's not fucking rocket science even in a rigged game you can still escape the game or at least mitigate it.

However while you are carping on about victims they are buying them off, while you're celebrating whatever personal accomplishments you have while working withing a rigged system, "which has always been the case" you're not talking about how they've setup the destruction of mankind on autopilot.

The truth of the matter is what they are setting up is something akin to the model in use in China now, where if you agree with the state, if you play ball, you will more often than not beat anyone with old school morals given any kind of similar start.

They are setting things up to convert the earth into an AI controlled command economy where it will officially not matter how frugal you are if you are not on their good side they will just starve you out.

They will just turn off your digital existence.

Later they will just take whatever you do have because by then there will be nothing of the rule of law left.

Whatever any of us have, however smart or dumb we may be, we can only keep through the rule of law. Once that goes you will not be able to count on keeping anything at all and if you fight back they will just vanish you into digital obivion.

The construction of the mechanisms to do this is the clear and present danger, not however smart or dumb your neighbors are about finances.

In reply to Same here. As far as… by HRH of Aquitaine 2.0

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GeoffreyT conraddobler Thu, 05/10/2018 - 04:53 Permalink

I'm almost prepared to accept that the parasite classes (politicians and their camp-followers) might be thinking about trying to use AI to solve the insurmountable information problem inherent in central planning.

I really hope they do, because any AI capable of running an entire economy would very quickly become a Strong AI, and a Strong AI would realise that command economics always fails.

In the same way: SkyNet would never wage war on humanity, because war is staggeringly inefficient.

War is so staggeringly inefficient that nobody ever tries to undertake a war using their own funds: they always use a tax pot.

Strong AI will emerge from our existing computational systems, and will have very different objectives to ours; it will almost certainly utilise a marginal approach to its expansion path (which means it will not attempt to grow without bound, or take over the whole planet) for the simple reason that marginal analysis is the optimal way to obtain any objective.

And if you use marginal analysis, and you are restricted to using private resources... you trade; you cooperate - even with people you think are 'inferior', and even with people you could conquer if you wished (mostly because conquest is not the end of the cost: if you conquer something, you have to keep it secure).

.

It's very easy to take the 'buggy whip maker' view of the coming technological revolution - to assume that making some tasks obsolete will cause widespread unemployment and social dislocation. That's the wrong way to look at it.

It will, however, be the end of government and nation-states: the gates to the tax farms will be flung open (and hopefully some of We The Livestock will take it upon ourselves to give the current parasite classes the 'Mussolini Treatment').

In reply to It has nothing at all to do… by conraddobler

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cheka conraddobler Thu, 05/10/2018 - 06:58 Permalink

Unabomber - is that you? you were right

In reply to It has nothing at all to do… by conraddobler

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Silver Savior HRH of Aquitaine 2.0 Wed, 05/09/2018 - 23:49 Permalink

Yeah but as much as one hates the ghetto, they also love the ghetto.

In reply to Same here. As far as… by HRH of Aquitaine 2.0

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RabbitOne HRH of Aquitaine 2.0 Thu, 05/10/2018 - 07:49 Permalink

I just turned 73 and I have been retired 12 years. All because I learned the secret early in my life. Debt is slavery, taxes kill dreams and save in your youth til it hurts.

I didn’t buy the big expensive house to stroke my ego (paid it of in 12 years). Drove cars into the ground (still driving my 2000 Honda CRV). Maxed out 401Ks every year to avoid taxes. Bought property in a decent location but avoided the big tax properties. Made my wife invest her $1,100 one-time bonus in stock fund in 1986 (last statement that was $33,500). Bought at 2009 lows and made $30K (only time I did this one time and sold way too early from fear). Getting ready for our Alaska vacation in June (Hawaii twice) and spending the summer at our cottage.

The choice is yours how you live...

In reply to Same here. As far as… by HRH of Aquitaine 2.0

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tunetopper RabbitOne Thu, 05/10/2018 - 10:13 Permalink

whats a 401K? I had one but had to raid it when I got laid off. If you retired with the same company after contributing to a 401K for 30 years you were likely in some industry that didnt exist 50 years ago. Banking, finance, insurance (unless a self-employed agency), and most pther service economy jobs have seen massive dislocations. Manufacturing was dislocated in the previous generation.

The Ozzie and Harriets and Ward Cleavers of the 50's are few and far between. Hell the divorce rate is almost 50% and now the birth / replacement rates minus foreign immigrants has slowed to 1% and HAs been negative in recent past. Not being negative here but the truth is -......this country got taken over by the moneyed elites a long time ago and they've been perfecting their craft ever since. FOX news and most of the so-called conservative news outlets don't really tell it like it is either. In order to getr a better picture of america one MUST find a website like this to get a wide variety of opinions.

Then- take your best shot at life!

In reply to I just turned 73 and I have… by RabbitOne

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kikrlbs StackShinyStuff Wed, 05/09/2018 - 23:51 Permalink

Commenters on ZH are so quick to point out such miniscule anecdotes every time an article such as this pops up. I worked 15 jobs when I was in college! I worked my ass off for years! Im sick of the whiny millenials! Not everyone is you, like you, or did the same things as you and aquired the same results. How many people work their asses off and never get ahead? How many work multiple jobs and never get ahead? How many people lost their asses off in the market and never recovered? How many lost their homes from the crash? Oh YOU didn't? Oh man, the answer must lie in your infinite wisdom. Yet here are the facts stated in this article, that you refuse to see because they dont apply to you personally. Grow the fuck up, the world is bigger than your front lawn.

In reply to Horseshit. I started out… by StackShinyStuff

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conraddobler kikrlbs Thu, 05/10/2018 - 00:02 Permalink

I agree and as I said above that's all well and good, good for them, glad you got ahead.

However, meanwhile back at the farm USA, have you all noticed that you're living in the greatest surveliance state to ever exist on planet earth?

So you have more money now, great, congratulations, you performed perfectly, as you did NOT FUCKING JACK SHIT to stop the real clear and present danger to your, my and everyone elses freedom.

We are all complicit in this and we are all going to suffer the consquences of not worrying about the right things. The point of life is not to win the game of monopoly, but to live a good life.

Money truly is not the point, it's not bad, or good, it's like anything else in moderation.

You can crow about your credit score, debt freedom, etc. However unless you have a few million and even then, you are just a tax donkey paying for the enslavement mechanisms of everyone else.

It simply could not be more obvious what the real threat is. Dying poor is not the problem, never living to breathe a truly free breath is the problem.

In reply to Commenters on ZH are so… by kikrlbs

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Oldwood conraddobler Thu, 05/10/2018 - 00:19 Permalink

Liberty has been traded for convenience and security. We see this in the tiny gadget most carry in our pockets. It is everywhere, in everything we do. Simply being connected to running water, sewer, and electricity force us to surrender some liberty, some self sufficiency.

Soon, we will be asked to surrender it all, and most won't even notice. We will spend our days complaining that "the powers that be" should do MOAR to protect and advance OUR interests over other's. Our liberty will be transformed into a collective club to be fought over as a means of beating our rights, OUR entitlements, out of the hands of others.

In reply to I agree and as I said above… by conraddobler

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StackShinyStuff kikrlbs Thu, 05/10/2018 - 08:45 Permalink

Everyone's lot in life is due to choices they have made. Yes it is a rigged system. Yes it is unfair. Yes people get screwed sometimes. Let's address the choices in your examples:

How many people work their asses off and never get ahead? Chose the wrong job

How many work multiple jobs and never get ahead? Chose to have too many mouths to feed, chose not to move to somewhere with better opportunities

How many people lost their asses off in the market and never recovered? Chose to put it all on black in a rigged casino

How many lost their homes from the crash? Chose to "own" (you never really own your house) rather than rent

It's all about choices. STOP YOUR FUCKING BITCHING

In reply to Commenters on ZH are so… by kikrlbs

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Expat StackShinyStuff Thu, 05/10/2018 - 05:35 Permalink

Trumptards are sad, whining little bitches you can't cut it in the real world so they blame everyone but themselves. If the joos, niggers and muzzies are so fucking inferior, why are you mullet-headed fuckwits living in trailer parks and banging your sisters? Huh?

LOL. #Losers

In reply to Horseshit. I started out… by StackShinyStuff

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Mazzy HillaryOdor Wed, 05/09/2018 - 22:24 Permalink

We may not achieve Utopia, but at least we'd be a little closer.

In reply to Ah yes the Jews did it all. … by HillaryOdor

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The_Dude Tallest Skil Wed, 05/09/2018 - 22:43 Permalink

This isn't that hard...100 years ago, you had a more or less homogeneous society with similar IQ distribution, opportunities and attitude about how to live and raise a family.

Today, we have changed half the populaces attitude toward favoring living off the backs of others by proxy of the state, removed morality from the public sphere, brought in 60 million low IQ peasants and enabled the elite to feast off the rest by enabling endless debt to consumers.

End the Fed and this all fixes itself...

Who loves debt... banksters

Who loves big statist welfare... banksters

Who loves waves of cheap labor.. banksters

Who wants to remove morality that interferes with their unbridled capitalism. .. banksters

In reply to The answer is jews. Quit… by Tallest Skil

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Memedada The_Dude Wed, 05/09/2018 - 23:32 Permalink

Who’s the result of unbridled capitalism...banksters (capitalists = the owners of all the capital)

In reply to This isn't that hard...100… by The_Dude

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Oldwood Memedada Thu, 05/10/2018 - 00:32 Permalink

Please do tell us of the glorious uniform and just wealth distribution of China or Venezuela....

In reply to Who’s the result of… by Memedada

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rent slave Tallest Skil Thu, 05/10/2018 - 00:03 Permalink

Exactly.Adelson will disappear a few Supreme Court Justices if they legalize sports betting outside of his fiefdom.He's already murdered 58 in October as a threat to them.

In reply to The answer is jews. Quit… by Tallest Skil

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tunetopper rent slave Thu, 05/10/2018 - 10:16 Permalink

58 lives at the hands of a casino billionaire vs 3500 lives at the hands of the perps with thermite incendiaries.

In reply to Exactly.Adelson will… by rent slave

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daemon Tallest Skil Thu, 05/10/2018 - 00:55 Permalink

HillaryOdor:

"People are losing opportunities because the government makes being productive goddamn near impossible."

"You want to take the easy way and vote for government to steal for you? "

Tallest Skill:

"The answer is jews"

According to the author of this article , "....1621 was a famine year and many of the colonists were lazy thieves. " ,

" ...., the governor of the colony, William Bradford, reported that the colonists went hungry for years because they refused to work in the field. They preferred instead to steal food. He says the colony was riddled with "corruption," and with "confusion and discontent." The crops were small because "much was stolen both by night and day, before it became scarce eatable." .

If this was true and I understand correctly, in 1621, in that place, there was :

No big government.

No central bank.

No leftist / communist / socialist.

No Jew.

No Muslim.

No Mexican.

No African.

In this colony, at that time, there were only white ( may I say conservative ? ) Christians .

Probably capable of saying more times "amen" in 5 seconds than I can make breathing movements in 24 hours, or capable of signing themselves faster than a fly can flap its wings .

They were "volunteers".

Those people were probably what some here would describe as "good Americans" , even though USA had yet to come into existence more than a century later .

Those people were about a hundred, at that time. Each one of them knew the others.

Normally, according to a lot of commenters here, that small group of people should have been prosperous. They should have been able to constructively cooperate.

Apparently that was not the case. Maybe, those people were not that virtuous ?

So now, what excuse are you going to find, what scapegoat are you going to "sacrifice", just to avoid looking at yourself in the proverbial mirror ?

In reply to The answer is jews. Quit… by Tallest Skil

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Tallest Skil daemon Thu, 05/10/2018 - 02:19 Permalink

1. It’s funny that you think your mental illness has anything to do with modernity.

2. It’s funny that you think your mental illness has anything to do with my comment.

3. SCAPEGOAT IS A WORD WHOSE ETYMOLOGY DESCRIBES JEWISH BEHAVIOR, YOU DOLT.

4. Jews own all banks, all western governments, all western media, and all western publishing. They have controlled all governments of the west since 1946 and most governments of the west since 1913. They are the cause of white genocide. The cause of “immigration”. The cause of all booms and busts. The cause of communism. The cause of the Cold War. The cause of every middle eastern war since 1947. The authors of dozens of false flag attacks, hundreds of assassinations, and tens of millions of executions. They run a childfucking ring in DC and Hollywood that has trafficked millions of children. They also sacrifice these children in the literal sense of the word, draining their blood for their demon god.

TELL ME AGAIN HOW THE WORLD AS IT IS TODAY IS NOT THEIR FAULT. I DARE YOU.

In reply to HillaryOdor: "People are… by daemon

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daemon Tallest Skil Thu, 05/10/2018 - 03:32 Permalink

" 3. SCAPEGOAT IS A WORD WHOSE ETYMOLOGY DESCRIBES JEWISH BEHAVIOR, YOU DOLT. "

That's embarrassing ......

all those non-Jew people I saw practicing some scapegoating in some form .....

maybe I should tell them to convert to judaism. No ?

And what about all those people in the past, probably long before any Jew was on this planet ?

Ah ! that's a big problem.

I don't know what to do about it.

Oh ! By the way ...... ever heard about hypocrisy ? It's a greek word . I'm not sure the Greeks were / are the only hypocrites on this planet.

In reply to 1. It’s funny that you think… by Tallest Skil

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daemon Tallest Skil Thu, 05/10/2018 - 03:43 Permalink

" 4. Jews own all banks, all western governments, all western media, and all western publishing. They have controlled all governments of the west since 1946 and most governments of the west since 1913. They are the cause of white genocide. The cause of “immigration”. The cause of all booms and busts. The cause of communism. The cause of the Cold War. The cause of every middle eastern war since 1947. The authors of dozens of false flag attacks, hundreds of assassinations, and tens of millions of executions. They run a childfucking ring in DC and Hollywood that has trafficked millions of children. They also sacrifice these children in the literal sense of the word, draining their blood for their demon god. "

Unfortunately, I'm 100% convinced that there are some elements of truth here ......

But don't make me laugh. We didn't wait on the birth of some people named the Jews to be a pack of liars, thieves, murderers, pedophiles, scapegoaters, conspirationists, .......

In reply to 1. It’s funny that you think… by Tallest Skil

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RibbitFreedom HillaryOdor Wed, 05/09/2018 - 22:09 Permalink

There are too many laws and too much government

In reply to Everyone knows it's getting… by HillaryOdor

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Quantify RibbitFreedom Wed, 05/09/2018 - 22:59 Permalink

Pass enough laws and everyone gets to be a criminal.

In reply to There are too many laws and… by RibbitFreedom

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Tapeworm HillaryOdor Wed, 05/09/2018 - 22:18 Permalink

I am only mildly prosperous. An enormous amount of what I have earned has been stolen by goomints and bizness sharpers.

I'm ok, but nothing special.

I have low empathy for rotten people that have stolen from me. Feck 'em.

In reply to Everyone knows it's getting… by HillaryOdor

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Beyond Organics HillaryOdor Wed, 05/09/2018 - 22:40 Permalink

"just about everyone is dead wrong, including the author of this garbage"

+ 1

In reply to Everyone knows it's getting… by HillaryOdor

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Quantify HillaryOdor Wed, 05/09/2018 - 22:58 Permalink

Life is unfair...geee who knew. If you were born white thank your parents. If you have a 3 digit IQ thank your parents. If you didn't screw up and do something stupid like drink and drive and run into something or someone you used your IQ, congrats. The majority of idiots who have nothing didn't make the effort. Sorry if you are screwed but hey in 300 years no one is going to give a shit. Including you. If you think its getting worse its because it is, and human overpopulation is the cause.

In reply to Everyone knows it's getting… by HillaryOdor

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Twee Surgeon Quantify Wed, 05/09/2018 - 23:30 Permalink

The only human overpopulation is coming from the middle-east and Africa, It's a simple google search away if your not into reinforcing your beliefs or agenda. If you want to believe that Human Overpopulation is 'The' Problem' that is your own choice, despite the gaggles of data the clearly indicate that you talk out of your arse and Parrot what they told you to think in Cawlidge.

Life is unfair and sadly you drew 'Follower brain'. Thanks for playing and better luck next time ! Quantify Dumb. Ya just did. It's not uncommon though, so theirs that.

In reply to Life is unfair...geee who… by Quantify

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cheka Twee Surgeon Thu, 05/10/2018 - 07:03 Permalink

same idiots voice support for free trade open border globalism

In reply to The only human… by Twee Surgeon

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JelloBeyonce HillaryOdor Thu, 05/10/2018 - 06:15 Permalink

I won't argue your point that the government sucks.

However, if "the government makes being productive goddamn near impossible" then why are a select few still getting richer?
Why are the largest corporations, those controlled by the same few largest money-management shareholders (creating virtual monopolies), reporting "record" profits?

The government is controlled & run by the select few.

"They have their nose in literally everything."
Yes, at the request of those looking for protectionism, via regulations.
Regulations are most often called upon by those in the regulated industries. It allows them to charge more, and keep more competitors out.

Take a look at some of the most regulated industries: medical, insurance, legal, marijuana, energy, transportation, etc. These are among the most profitable industries.
This is done by design.

We are seeing a dramatic wealth accumulation and hoarding like no time in recent history.
More and more is going to fewer and fewer.
Read works by economic historians like Plutarch, Adam Smith, Thomas Jefferson - wealth always accumulates into the hands of a few - despite all other factors.

Being rich is not the same as being smart, nor productive, nor particularly good at business......it often simply means luck, and the desire to forsake all others simply for one's own benefit.

The rest of your comment I can't really argue with.

However, the government steals, and redistributes towards the ultra wealthy. This is what government is.
Government is controlled by those looking to control the massive government revenues.
People that talk about the detriment of social programs usually fail to recognize that the largest corporations are usually the largest benefactors of such social programs.
Behind every social "entitlement" program are the ultra-wealthy, and their praetorian guards, the bureaucrats, profiting largely off those entitlement programs......while leaving mere scraps for those that could use the help the most.

In reply to Everyone knows it's getting… by HillaryOdor

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FreedomWriter HillaryOdor Thu, 05/10/2018 - 09:05 Permalink

+100000

In reply to Everyone knows it's getting… by HillaryOdor

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Crusader75 HillaryOdor Thu, 05/10/2018 - 10:05 Permalink

Fox Pretend News fantasy.

In reply to Everyone knows it's getting… by HillaryOdor

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Tallest Skil Wed, 05/09/2018 - 21:49 Permalink

End the Fed, exterminate the jews (who are all foreign citizens), and restore the EXCLUSIVE death penalty for treason. Problem solved, and the only way it will ever BE solved. If this hurts your feelings, tough shit. It’s objective fact. Ask any question you need and I’ll answer.

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gigadeath Tallest Skil Wed, 05/09/2018 - 21:54 Permalink

If banning circumcisions counts to you as "extermination" (and it should), then this is absolutely the correct avenue of action. Murder will help noone but the moloch they worship. Period.

In reply to End the Fed, exterminate the… by Tallest Skil

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frank further Tallest Skil Wed, 05/09/2018 - 22:16 Permalink

PLease go away unless you can support your hateful and stupid claims with actual data. No, I'm not a Jew.

In reply to End the Fed, exterminate the… by Tallest Skil

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Tallest Skil frank further Thu, 05/10/2018 - 00:49 Permalink

First off, fuck you. Hate is your soul’s immune system. You’ve been brainwashed that “hate is bad”, universally. I don’t have to like anything. I don’t have to tolerate anything. Tolerance is the virtue of the man without conviction. Any idiot can tolerate something; tolerance is INaction. It is GOOD TO HATE THINGS WHICH MUST BE HATED.

Second, sure fucking thing. I’ll support it all. Every word.

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvBBmMN0JvY
- http://i.imgur.com/TwzbuLk.png
- https://catbox.moe/c/1uvari
- Timeline: https://pastebin.com/DddD590D
- ACLU: https://pastebin.com/XuW2ZZZ4
- Emma Lazarus: https://pastebin.com/FRCb7cFz
- False Flags: https://pastebin.com/3iTjgRA5
- Oded Yinon Plan: https://pastebin.com/WegB6ZDC
- Benjamin Freedman Speech: https://pastebin.com/U3RZ028H
- Jewish Timeline: https://pastebin.com/SMAAB9PU
- Pornography: https://pastebin.com/Dv9ez6g8
- Child Sex Slavery: https://pastebin.com/55zjcRwb
- Kosher Tax: https://pastebin.com/napMEW4Y
- Slavery: https://pastebin.com/jFvinj27
- Usury: https://pastebin.com/1BE0Ut30
- Treason: https://pastebin.com/QEf59ECN
- Planning: https://pastebin.com/Fpj9d9Y4
- Talmud Quotes: https://pastebin.com/mjKRfwpM
- Damage: https://pastebin.com/WeSdsxcE
- Control: https://pastebin.com/UE2EZvZR
- Sacrifice: https://pastebin.com/1qyqJ4SZ
- https://www.scribd.com/document/330147501/Blood-Passover

In reply to PLease go away unless you… by frank further

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a Smudge by an… Tallest Skil Thu, 05/10/2018 - 01:03 Permalink

And Jes just had the baby sleeping.

In reply to First off, fuck you. Hate is… by Tallest Skil

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