A good question to ask yourself as you ponder your vote, “Are things better for you and those you know now than in the past?”
In my biz, I interact with a wide range of people, young, old, rich, poor, employee, and employer. As far as I can see, none of them a better off now than they were 10 years ago. And many who I never would have predicted would ever struggle financially because of their experience and education, now do.
I’ve watched people get fired without warning, search for a new job for months, finally take something at a fraction of what they used to make, with less benefits, and less security. Most are people in their upper 50s, not quite ready to retire but also not prepared to face long term unemployment at their age. They are scared. Terrified, actually.
I’ve seen younger friends and neighbors lose their jobs, lose their life savings, and then lose their homes. Most were families with children at home. Most are now divorced. None are better off.
As I look around I see very few who are ahead or are doing better than they were 10 years ago.
How about you?
Notes From a Red Pill Girl 
I don’t know anyone who is better off either. Even people who make a decent living, seem to be just treading water.
Things started downwards around 2006-2009, and really haven’t gotten better across the board.
Even just look about discretionary spending for most people. There is less cash in their pockets.
And this country is more divided in more ways than we’ve ever been since the civil war.
For an immediate, gut level reaction, spiritually I am much worse off than I was ten years ago. Maybe, a lot of it stems from that.
I’m better off, simply because I have learned more, and am better at managing budgets now than I used to be. Money shouldn’t be important beyond having enough for a decent, safe life. Much more than that and you don’t own the stuff. It owns you.
Yes, good point Invisible Mikey. I don’t mean are people better off in a consumerism/excess type way. Because I agree with you, there is a lot of wasted money with that route. I’m even talking about the basics — housing, food, gas, electricity, water. I know many people (myself included) who have cut back to the bare minimums and sometimes struggle or juggle even to meet those.
I used to pay $700 a month for health insurance, now I get it for “free” but the problem is NOBODY takes it. None of my old providers. So I have gone without the usual annual preventative/screening/type things for over three years. I guess if I have a health catastrophe (broken arm, etc.) I am covered. Otherwise the ONE clinic that does take my insurance is where the homeless and drug addicts go for care.
I am not joking! I am a “normal” college educated person who has never struggled to make ends meet like I have this past few years. I see others going thru the same.
For the most part I agree with you, RPG, and also deeply sympathize. I retired just a few months ago from work at an urgent care, and at that clinic we could not afford to accept Obamacare either, which in my state is called “Applecare”. The amount of repayment available from that program didn’t even cover the cost of supplies. In my little town of 9,000 those on Applecare must go to the local hospital ER, or the monthly free clinic where the doctors donate their services.
i see it as a systemic problem in our culture, viewing poverty as something those who have too little caused all by themselves. So even the working poor do get lumped in with society’s hardest hit. It’s an unfair judgment that those who produce for the corporations get full coverage through employers, yet those who are under or unemployed should have to endure long waits as if they aren’t equally deserving of care.
I was always in favor of “Medicare for all”, and still am. The Medicare system works, most providers accept it (unlike Medicaid/Obamacare) and all we would need to do is remove the age restrictions and expand the budget and staff to manage the increase in patients. The opposition to the idea is political, not logical.
What I find funny is all this talk of “automation” taking over. Where the fuck is the money going to come from to put it in place? Who the fuck is going to service it once it is there? Who the fuck are they trying to kid when basic infrastructure is crumbling away from neglect? This cargo cult of “technology will save us” is completely laughable when everything here in the real world is pointing to a post apocalyptic mad max scenario the likes of present day South Africa. Are things better? LoL
So true invisible Mikey. Congrats on the retirement btw!
As for automation, also agreed. Automation has its place, for repetative mindless tasks, but I bet a lot of guys wouldn’t mind good paying skilled labpr jobs rebuilding infrastructure and such!
Invisible Mikey recently new clincs are opening catering to people on my plan. They are bare bones, mostly operated by Russian immigrants. When I went in they weighed me but didn’t take my vitals otherwise. No equipment to speak of. They couldn’t help me w my need, but gave me a referral so I guess hoop jumping is the new black? Ak.
Back in the, back in the, back in the USSR!!!!
For the non Beatles fans, that is a song. 🙂
I truly believe that things are going to get much worse, before they ever get any better.
So much so, that I am in the process of selling my house with a reasonable mortgage (under normal conditions), and am going to buy another smaller place for cash and no mortgage.
What I will save each month, is going to gold, storable fuel, freeze dried food, and as much MK232-mod 1 as I can store in the basement, the motorcycle shed, and bury in the back yard! lol
I’m copy pasting a comment post from Uncle Bob’s recent post as it looks relevant to this discussion:
Anonymous said…
Race is also a big factor. The less white the U.S. becomes, the more uncivilized society will become. Non-whites as a majority will not be as compromising and benevolent to minority whites as compared to how whites treat non-whites when whites are the majority and effectively in control. There are very dark times ahead for currently white majority countries considering the demographic trends (massive non-white foreign immigration and declining birth rates).
Look at history in this book: March of the Titans by Arthur Kemp.
October 25, 2016 at 10:51 AM
All this maybe, but personally I am still hoping and praying for an awakening rather than a collapse…
Here you go , RPG. This is one of my most favorite music videos. The Beatles couldn’t play in Red Square in 2003 but Paul MccCartney and Wings could.
Calling it “the affordable care act” is one of the biggest slap in the face to everyone in this country. It should have been called “the somewhat affordable health insurance as long as you don’t use it act”. It did nothing to reduce actual base costs. Even under my very decent .gov retiree health insurance plan, prescription costs have tripled.
I was thinking about some of the people I knew from my PT job, and I really don’t know how they are surviving on their income. The young lady I was smitten with makes about $56k a year, and that’s with OT. With a $1,500/mo rent, there isn’t much left over for anything else. No wonder she was trying so hard to get back to her ex. She could no longer afford pretending to be a SIW.
Someone else I know has just under 20 years on that same job, and is at about $71k a year, and his smaller sized home is in the process of being foreclosed on. And he doesn’t live an extravagant lifestyle by any means.
I think that part of it is the higher taxes here in Marylandastan, and the rest is the higher prices for just about everything. And I just see it getting worse in the future.
I mentioned in another post that I am in the process of selling the house, and taking the proceeds and working on buying a place for cash so I’d be mortgage free.
Decent homes in this area are selling ridiculously fast in my area. Unfortunately, it seems like all of them are being bought to flip at a much higher price. Almost all of the ones I’ve seen, have very superficial work done on them, and are back on the market at $100k or more higher. If you scratch the surface, they are still in marginal shape. Paint and newer appliances are all they seem to be doing.
This is part of why young families are getting pushed towards not making ends meet. Why they need two incomes to survive. And maybe why so many divorcees are taking their ex’s back. They can’t afford it on their own.
@RPG: If you were under 26 y/o, I could adopt you and you’d have much better health insurance coverage. So the only other option is a sham marriage. At least it’d also come with a $55k annual survivor benefit after I croak. How romantic of a proposal is that? lol
Unfortunately, I know at least one woman who would actually make a decision based on that, as opposed to any real feelings 😦
Fml you are very sweet to offer!
lol
RPG,
That was graceful. It may be the topic of another post. I don’t think that many women know how to turn men away gracefully. At a guess, most of them would crush their unwanted suitors to the point where they would never stick their necks out again.
Thank you Fuzzie. And FML. You guys are all great, I’d marry all of you if I could! But since you are actually strangers on the Internet, well, caution is a good strategy. But the thought is appreciated! 🙂
I don’t know why women are mean, there is no reason for it.
I guess that both of you missed the “lol”.
I was just trying to make Fuzzy jealous that I didn’t offer it to him first! lol