The Corruption of America
This is the most fundamental measure of the success or the failure of any political system or culture. Are the legal and social rules we live under aiding our economic development or holding us back? What do the numbers say?
Unfortunately, it’s a harder question to answer than it should be. The problem is, we don’t have a sound currency with which to measure GDP through time. Until 1971, the U.S. dollar was defined as a certain amount of gold. And the price of gold was fixed by international agreement. It didn’t actually begin to trade freely until 1975. Therefore, the value of the U.S. dollar (and thus the value of U.S. production, which is measured in dollars) was manipulated higher for many years.
Even today, our government’s nominal GDP figures are greatly influenced by inflation. The influence of inflation is particularly pernicious in GDP studies. You see, inflation, which actually reduces our standard of living, drives up the amount of nominal GDP. So it creates the appearance of a wealthier country…while the nation is actually getting poorer.
The only real way to accurately measure per-capita GDP is to build our own model. The need to build our own tools tells you something important – the government doesn’t want anyone to know the answer to this question. It could easily publish data far more accurate than the indexes it puts out. But government doesn’t want anyone to know. And it wants to be able to say “those aren’t the real data” when studies like ours produce bad news.
So pay attention to how we built our charts. You can see for yourself that our data are far more accurate than the government’s figures. Our data are based on the real purchasing power of the currency, not the nominal numbers, which are completely meaningless in the real world.
The question we are trying to answer is: What would per-capita GDP numbers look like, if we used a real-world currency, like gold, or a basket of commodity prices, instead of the paper-based U.S. dollar? What would the figures be if we measured GDP in sound money instead of the government’s funny money?
Here’s how we figured it out. We took the government numbers for nominal GDP and measured them first against commodity prices, and later (after it began to trade freely) gold. We used a standard commodity index (the CRB) up to 1975 and gold post-1975. The result of this analysis shows you the real trend in U.S. per-capita GDP, as measured on a real-world purchasing power basis.
Our analysis shows you what’s actually happened to our real standard of living. The results, we suspect, will surprise even the most bearish among you.
America is in a steep decline.
Americans Are Getting Poorer – Fast
Let me anticipate the “official” criticism of our study. Many people will claim that our numbers aren’t “real.” They will say that we “mined” the data to produce a chart that showed a steep decline.
That’s simply not so. All we’ve done is convert the government’s nominal GDP stats into a fixed currency value that’s based on real-world purchasing power. The fact is, our data are far more accurate than the government’s because they represent the real-world experience. That’s why our data are far more closely correlated to other real-world studies of wealth in America.
Consider, for example, annual sales of automobiles. Auto sales peaked in 1985 (11 million) and have been declining at a fairly steady rate since 1999. In 2009, Americans bought just 5.4 million passenger cars. As a result, the median age of a registered vehicle in the U.S. is almost 10 years.
Our data shows that real per-capita wealth peaked in the late 1960s. Guess when we find the absolutely lowest median age of the U.S. fleet? In 1969. At the end of the 1960s, the median age of all the cars on the road in the U.S. was only 5.1 years. Even as recently as 1990, the median age was only 6.5 years.
Rich people buy new cars. Poor people do not.
Most important, our data “proves” something I know many of you have felt or perceived for many years. You’ve seen the decline of your neighborhoods. You’ve gone years without being able to earn more money in your job. Or you’ve seen your purchasing power decrease to the point where you’re now substituting lower-quality products on your grocery list for the brand-name products you used to buy.
You can see how much harder it is on your children to find good jobs, to buy good housing or a new car. As a result, few people under the age of 40 have the same kind of “life story” as their parents.
And because they can’t “make it,” many have decided to “fake it.” The average college student now graduates with $24,000 in debt…and by his late 20s has racked up more than $6,000 in credit card debt. Meanwhile, median earnings for Americans aged 25-34 equals $34,000-$38,000. (Source: Demos.org, “The Economic State of Young America,” November 2011.)
Can you imagine starting your life out as an adult with a personal debt-to-income level at close to 100%? What does this say about the state of our economy? What does this say about the state of our culture?
Who Suffers Most
It’s not only the young that are having trouble in America. It is also the old.
Debt levels among households headed by people older than 62 have been rising for two decades. The average mortgage size for this population is now $71,000 – five times larger than it was in 1987 (adjusted for inflation), according to William Apgar of Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.
Older Americans are also more reliant on credit card debt than ever before…credit card debt. From 1992 through 2007 (which is the latest data available) older Americans took on credit card debt at a faster pace than the population as a whole. According to USA Today, lower- and middle-income Americans aged 65 and older now carry an average of more than $10,000 in credit card debt, up 26% since only 2005.
Given average interest rates of 20% for these debts, it’s a fair bet that these obligations will never be repaid. But they will have a terrible impact on the standard of living of these older Americans.
What in the heck is going on? Don’t Americans pay off their mortgages before they retire? Don’t they work hard during their careers, save, and invest, so they can move to Florida and spend their retirement in comfort?
Older Americans living with credit card debt! This doesn’t sound like America, does it? Or maybe it does.
My bet is that most of my subscribers know that something has gone terribly wrong with America. It’s not easy to figure out how all of this happened…but you know from your own experiences that these numbers aren’t wrong. It might not be pleasant to think about…but these figures paint a sad but accurate picture: America is not the country it was 40 years ago. These changes are warping our economy, politics, and culture.
In this month’s issue, I’d like to try to define a few of the core reasons we’re in this situation. I can’t possibly analyze all the factors that have led to this decline. But I want to document the growth of graft in politics. I want to demonstrate – with real facts and examples – how public company leadership has deteriorated. And I want to document some of the things that are occurring in the broader society, all of which I believe are linked to this fundamental decline in our standard of living.
You see, I believe the decline of our country is primarily a decline of our culture.
“…is our economy growing faster than our population?”
I found that line from the opening paragraph interesting. It is the basis for many of the problems in the Third World and why those populations are coming to the West in their millions. That problem then is being exported and seeded within our own society.
It seems a simple truth: if there are 10 million illegal aliens and 10 million people out of work, an absence of those illegals would means jobs for Americans. Another factor would be those 10 million legal Americans would spend their money in America instead of sending remittances back home which is also a good reason to pare down LEGAL immigration as well.
Jobs are a variable, not a constant which is why analyzing immigration is so much more complex than simplistic substitution analysis. Any immigrant will both consume jobs and create jobs. Certain immigrants, like Andrew Grove who was one of the three co-founders of Intel, are unambiguously positive in terms of both capital formation and job creation. Others are more of a mixed case while still others are unambiguously a net negative.
By changing the rules, one can manipulate the proportions of positive and negative contributions. Limiting the right of immigrants to create companies, for instance, would have set Andy Grove on his ear. Limiting immigrant land ownership has similar effects. Policies that limit social mobility would also reduce the positive effects of immigration and change the balance.
In the big picture, we’ve got a lot of recently printed paper money in circulation that will turn into inflation if monetary velocity returns to normal. We need to increase the value that our money is being backed by and we need to increase the rate at which that value is being created. That means changing the rules to promote growth including immigrant fueled growth. We have trillions of dollars in value to create in order to avoid a currency collapse.
I agree with you that immigrants contribute to society as a whole, but when it comes to illegals I definitely believe they are an overall negative. Yes, there are always exceptions to the rule, however when somebody’s first act upon entering the country is to break the law that doesn’t bode well for their future involvement here. Even legal immigrants send money back to their country of origin, that’s how many families were brought over to America originally, but at least those families aren’t breaking the law to be here.
We have green cards and temporary work visas for people who are still waiting for their turn to become American citizens. In most cases proof of a job waiting for you is enough to get the paperwork filed so you’re not here illegally. Yes, I know it’s not exactly fast, but it’s LEGAL. If they truly believe coming here is worth it, then it’s worth waiting, no?
@TMLutas: The part of your comment regarding immigration is superfluous and deflects from the actual problems. We have “immigrants” and “illegal aliens/immigrants”. The word ‘immigrant’ used alone in the grammar presumes a person migrated to our nation legally, respecting our sovereignty, laws, and the rights, desires and cultural values of American citizens.
So, immigrants such as Andy Grove, et al, who have and will continue to contribute positively to America are not the problem.
Rather the problems stem from people who make the conscious choice to violate our national sovereignty, laws, and the human rights of citizens and legal immigrants by entering our nation against our will and against our laws. Further, the problem extends as well to those American citizens who choose to aid and abet the actions of illegal/undocumented aliens/immigrants.
You are ignoring the role of the rule of law on business and capital formation. This is the mistake of the WSJ editorial page and the Obama administration. Too nuanced to just read the law and follow it, now everyone, especially people in authority, have their own personal read on tax law, code enforcement, and everything else.
At which point people with assets take what they can and hide in the tall grass until the mayhem subsides.
I’m all right, Jack—I’m OK
That is the message for today
Count up your money, feather your nest
Let someone else worry, ’cause I couldn’t care less
You scratch my back, I’ll do the same to you, Jack
That’s the message for today
The workers and the bosses, sweet duet
Share the gains and the losses—Ha! You bet!
Well, everybody’s comrades now
Like Cain and Abel, we’re all brothers, and how
If there’s any fiddle, get into the middle
Stack your whack, Jack, while you may
Well, we all pull together but not too fast
Got to help the other fellow make the job last
We trust one another, just like Big Brother
Blow you, Jack—I’m all right
We’re all a-makin’ history
It’s the bravest new world that you ever did see
Not the time and a half-a, watch out for the bull
Reverse for the cock-up, and nobody’s fool
You talk about utopia—don’t let ‘em soft-soap ya
Grab your whack, brother, hold on tight
And blow you, Jack—I’m all right!
—Al Saxon; title song for “I’m All Right, Jack” (1960)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST-2ZWGgMmo
pure pap.
An amazing piece of analysis and unaswerable in every detail. Mr. Stansberry has, with almost blinding clarity, laid it all out for us. For forty years we have been gleefully throwing chunks of our national patrimony on to the bonfire. There isn’t much left. The present choice boils down to the facistic totalitarianism of the statist Left or the greed the fat-cat Right. You bet your money and take your chance.
Maybe in an era of hyper-fast communications where every personal foible, flaw and criticism can be recorded and go viral in seconds the whole idea of “virtue” has become obsolete. If everyone else is doing it why shouldn’t you grab for yours? I am reminded that Mother Theresa, arguably one of the saintliest persons of the 20th Century, was regularly beaten up on for her message, her handling of donations and her alleged lack of concern for the suffering of the poor. However if virtue has become obsolute then what do we replace it with?
I think that you will find that most of the people Paulson gave the information to are funders of the Democrat party
“The present choice boils down to the facistic totalitarianism of the statist Left or the greed the fat-cat Right. You bet your money and take your chance.”
I think you’ll find the statist want your money by just taking it. The fat-cat Right want your money by earning it and giving you something in exchange. If you have ever purchased something you may have noticed that was the way the transaction worked. Seems like an easy bet to cover. If you had rather do business with a skinny-cat, best of luck. They probably won’t be there to honor the warranty on the product.
“According to USA Today, lower- and middle-income Americans aged 65 and older now carry an average of more than $10,000 in credit card debt, up 26% since only 2005.”
Actually, that is according to a group called Demos. Van Jones is on the “Board of Trustees”. I found the “Policy Brief” from July 2009 on their website (from where this claim originated), however there was no further information or data available. Have you checked into the methodology, definitions and so on of this claim, Mr. Stansberry? How exactly do you know that this is true, other than that a far-left “progressive” group said so? Did you even know where this claim came from before you repeated it without, apparently, an attempt at even the most rudimentary level of scrutiny?
the cozy retreat and repast that a left or right designation becomes functionally and spiritually deficient when the work of self and systemic analysis is required to illuminate a pathway to cultural redemption.
Dude, what?
An inferior health care plan that no one wants and CANNOT afford to pay. The threat to jail and/or fine those who don’t purchase the government enforced plan.
Massive spending as if there is no tomorrow. Fighting wars we have no money for. Massive borrowing.
The Massive giving away of Billions of dollars every year to other countries, including the oil-wealthy Middle East, Hamas-controlled Gaza and the Palestinian Authority organization who fill their war chests, build mansions and laugh all the way to the bank with FREE infidel money. Whilst in America, homeless shelters are filled to capacity; tent cities have sprung up all over the U.S. filled with desperate, jobless, homeless, neglected Americans.
Massive debt. The massive printing of paper money out of thin air to DELIBERATELY create out-of-control inflation. There is no question that the total DESTRUCTION of America’s economy is planned. The results will be horrifying. In the once wealthy and great nation of America, millions of Americans will become destitute, hungry and homeless with no money or resources to help them.
Organic, Non-GMO avocado, fruit and nut trees and berries must be planted in all of our nation’s cities’ and towns’ parks to help the many millions of Americans who will soon be in a desperate struggle to survive because of the frightening, highly destructive economic policies of our government.
Watch it. And weep for our great nation and people:
FALL Of The Republic – The Presidency Of Barack H Obama – The Full Movie HQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8LPNRI_6T8&feature=player_embedded
Most people are unaware of government raids made on small-medium sized farms. Raw, organic dairy farms have had their healthy dairy products seized and thrown out. At least one farmer has been taken away in handcuffs! Many people in a desperate struggle to regain their health (or not lose their health) know how IMPORTANT raw, organic dairy is in the battle for health.
Businesses and jobs must be PROTECTED! The WAR against small-medium sized businesses must stop!
1. I would rather have 10% inflation than 1% deflation, inflation is just a pain but we can adapt, deflation is destructive, businesses go bankrupt, people lose their jobs, and people lose their homes to foreclosure.
2. A distinction needs to be made between Money supply created inflation, and Energy supply created inflation. The Enviros have been blocking energy development for so long, that even during our present deflation, energy supply shortages are causing inflation in common consumer items, like gas, food, and recently manufactured items.
3. The Gold standard was the primitive form of money which mankind used for most of our history. It was holding mankind back, as demonstrated by what has happened since we finally dumped the last dregs of the artifact in ’71′. Mankind has exploded with growth in trade, technology, and the uplifting of billions of people from abject poverty. The capital financing needs of modern civilization so far exceeded the limits of that primitive system that the adoption of the present system became a necessity. It was the development of the present financial system that has allowed mankind its accelerating cultural growth of the last few hundred years. And it was the dumping of the gold standard that allowed the building of the American Global Trading System, the largest and most efficient market in history. The AGTS is responsible for 20% or $15 Trillion of the world’s GDP of $75 Trillion, as well as 20% of America’s GDP.
4. Something is worth only what someone is willing to pay for it, and so markets which use Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” set the value of everything including currencies. The largest market on earth is the Forex where trillions in currencies are traded every day, using the invisible hand to measure every currency against everything else including gold.
5. Your GDP chart is a comparison of apples to oranges. I look at the Americans of today with their iPads, cell phones, computer games, SUV’s, internet, and how fat we all are, and I know your chart is not measuring our wealth. A recent study of the poor by the Heritage Foundation contained some insights, 99.9% of the poor have a refrigerator, 98.7% have a TV, and the rest of the numbers are equally astonishing.
6. GDP is supposed to be a measure of a nation’s yearly production, but how can you measure the value of a rotary phone built 50 years ago, to an iPhone built today?
I’m not saying I don’t think we aren’t in a bad way, just that you haven’t identified the real problems. I have a saying “There is a reason why it’s called Capitalism; it’s because Capital is what fuels it.”, since the Democrats took over in 2007, and their first budget in 2008, they have been draining the fuel tank of Capitalism of about $2 Trillion a year at the Federal, State, and Local levels. That is money that is no longer available for business expansion, or consumer purchases, to be measured in the GDP. The Democrats have looted the economy of $8 Trillion in the last 4 years, is it any wonder we are now trapped in a deflationary depression?
Everyone knows that savings and the accumulation of capital is how a nation becomes wealthy, but that is only true if the capital is put to work in the economy, upon which the Government Monopoly is parasitic.
Er, no. Inflation is flat outright robbery, and it affects the poorest worst, as they basically end up starving because of it.
When you are flat just treading water, a 10% increase means you’re going to have to cut back on essentials, like you know, food?
(I’ve experienced this myself, because 10% is basically how much food prices have gone up in the last few years. One the plus side, I’ve lost 30 pounds).
Sure, if you’re at the top, inflation doesn’t bother you a bit. But it forces a survival of the fittest situation, where you constantly need to go out and make more and more money, because otherwise you will get poor by just staying in place.
But the fact is, most people simply aren’t up to it. Life is hard enough as it is for a lot of people, without their work being artificially devalued.
100 years ago, a position as a retail clerk or laborer wasn’t looked down upon. Heck, retail was even seen as a positive thing. But now, everyone has to be a go-getter, rich business type or self-promoter (or a cushy government job), because in part inflation forces you to have to constantly improve your salary otherwise you will get poorer…
You’re missing the point of the article. My takeaway from the article is that too many in the US are corrupt, from the most lowly citizen to the media to the politician to the corporate executive. And he’s right. I guess (forget who observed this first) that we get the government we deserve. And if we’re nothing more than cheap whores, thats the government we’ll get. and shame on us.
This according to Wikipedia about the author:
“In 2007, he and his investment firm, then called ‘Pirate Investor,’ now known as “Stansberry & Associates,” were ordered by a US District Court to pay $1.5 million in restitution and civil penalties, the court stating ‘Stansberry’s conduct undoubtedly involved deliberate fraud, making statements that he knew to be false.’”
Additionally, anyone who allies themselves with Alex Jones is trouble period. If you’re someone who’s dedicated to shorting stocks and betting against the dollar, welcome to the party.
I agree that the chart of GDP is bogus. In fact, it comes pretty close to being an inverse of a gold price chart. Gold has proven a very poor indicator of value since we went off the gold standard. In fact, the chart shows this clearly. GDP cratered around 1980 per the chart, but in reality, gold soared. But then gold crashed (>$800 to <$400) so, voila, the GDP (in the chart) soared.
I have traded gold off and on for that whole period. It is a highly speculative commodity, not a realistic store of value.
Totally bogus analysis from a gold bug.
I agree with you on this point, but be careful not to throw out the baby with the bath water.
1980 was also the peak of Stagflation. My folks bought their first house right around then, and they had to pay a very high interest rate on it. On top of that, housing prices fell, so they couldn’t refinance it when the rates finally came back down, so fiscally it was a really heavy hitter for them for a long time.
Housing rates fell? That would have been a local phenomenon. In most of the country, housing prices continued to escalate throughout the 80s. The oil patch cities had housing price declines in the mid to late 1980s after the collapse of the price of a barrel of oil in 1986.
Every single one of the 300 million persons inside our border are in debt nearly 200,000 dollars. That buys a lot of “iPads, cell phones, computer games, SUV’s, internet” and food. I think the article and chart is spot on. Our wealth is an illusion.
Quote: “1. I would rather have 10% inflation than 1% deflation, inflation is just a pain but we can adapt, deflation is destructive, businesses go bankrupt, people lose their jobs, and people lose their homes to foreclosure.”
But the nation survived quite nicely the 40 years after the Civil War with a mild deflation over that time. Some might say we even prospered. There was an extended period during that time that the economy reset itself when there were no new jobs – an early jobless recovery.
Second example comes out of the IT world, where deflation is the very essence of Moore’s Law. If the geeks can get it right and learn to prosper in that world, why can’t everyone else?
Finally, there are a LOT of bankruptcies and people losing their homes right now, today, and it is an inflationary spiral.
Deflation is tough, but inflation is most certainly not your friend. Never has been (look at Jimmy Carter and the Misery Index). Cheers -
The new Animal Identification rule will act like a tax on every livestock animal that crosses state lines – something that happens THOUSANDS of times a day in the United States! This is incredibly hard on small-medium sized farms WHO CANNOT AFFORD THIS!
Family farmers and ranchers cannot afford additional paperwork and unnecessary expenses to please the industrial agribusiness lobby. We must stand up for our rights and the rights of farms! Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance is standing up for family farms and backyard livestock growers!
This is their internet address: http://farmandranchfreedom.org/
PROTECT JOBS! PROTECT BUSINESSES!
Frank Fleming had this very useful post this past summer, on this very blog. It has some tips for you.
http://pjmedia.com/blog/tips-for-not-appearing-crazy-on-the-internet/
Our data shows that real per-capita wealth peaked in the late 1960s. Guess when we find the absolutely lowest median age of the U.S. fleet? In 1969. At the end of the 1960s, the median age of all the cars on the road in the U.S. was only 5.1 years. Even as recently as 1990, the median age was only 6.5 years.
Part of the reason why people bought new cars so often in the 1960s is that most of them were little better than junk. My father (far from rich) bought a new car every 3 or 4 years back then because they were practically falling apart by that time. New cars are of much higher quality today than back then.
Agreed. The old “rule” was that people should get a new car every two years. (and I’m not making shite up).
Today I’ve got two vehicles, one a 2001 van and the other a 1997 Honda, both with less than 78,000 miles. They work fine, and have no body issues. They’re both well-maintained.
You think I will trade them in, given today’s economic circumstances?
No frackin WAY.
Truth. I came from college one winter in the early 80′s, and my dad offered to give me the oldest of the family cars — just give it to me, outright — if I would take it back to college with me.
It wasn’t much of a gift. I burned up most of Christmas break trying to get it running right. I gave up when I realized that it would need a couple of hundred bucks worth of maintenance that was beyond my skill level, and then another couple of days with a grinder and Bondo to patch the body rust and try to waterproof it again. Even then, the interior would still smell of mildew forever, from the rain that had already leaked inside and soaked the interior. And even then, it would be no more than a marginally reliable beater, that might not actually make it across several states back to college. I was in a hardcore engineering program; I didn’t have time to nurse a sick automobile. Like I said, I gave up. We sold it to a junkyard for about what the tires and battery were worth.
That car was six years old. Today, my daily driver is seven years old, perfectly reliable, rust-free, and less than halfway through its useful life.
The average age of the average car may have been a lot lower in the 1960′s, but I bet the proportion of barely functional beaters on the road was about the same then as now. Cars just didn’t last as long then. Thank the Japanese for killing off planned obsolescence in the 1980′s.
Not criticizing the larger points of the article, but the car age comparison is not really valid.
The Obama administration is waging WAR on American BUSINESSES and American JOBS!
Americans must not be denied the human right to jobs and businesses!
FOXNEWS
Is Fed Raid on Gibson Guitar Company Enforcing Policy . . . or a Push to Target ‘Made in the USA’?
September 07, 2011
They are among the most sought-after musical instruments in the world.
Gibson is also a company that is proud to put the “Made in the USA” label on its instruments. While the company has lower-end lines that are made overseas, every guitar that bears the “Gibson” label is made in the U.S. by American workers.
Related Stories
Attacking U.S. Companies Is No Way to Create Jobs
Gibson: Feds Want Guitar Woodwork Done by Foreign Labor
Related Video
Gibson Guitar CEO: Don’t Know Why We Were Targeted
On August 24, armed agents from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Homeland Security raided the corporate headquarters and two factories of the Gibson Guitar company. The agencies took away 24 pallets of Indian rosewood and ebony, as well as a number of guitars and computer files.
“I think they’re taking the position that we should be shifting these jobs overseas,” says Bruce Mitchell, the chief legal counsel for Gibson.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09/07/does-white-house-want-to-ship-jobs-overseas/
#9 was my comment. I accidentally clicked something on the computer before I typed in my name and the comment went without my name.
Of related interest:
http://barnhardt.biz/
“BCM Has Ceased Operations (Parts 1 and 2)”
of November 17, 2011
This was inevitable. “The American Republic will only last until the government realize it can bribe the public with its own money” to horribly misquote that French guy whose name I can’t even spell.
You don’t have to remember the name Alexis de Tocqueville because you didn’t get close to quoting him. But you did hit the nail on the head of Tocqueville’s dire prediction.
Obama is the RESULT, not the cause…
.
I was going along with pretty much everything said in this article (including the extended version on his web site) and then he said Steve Jobs of Apple should be condemned for his options abuse. The guy probably increased shareholder value more than anyone else in America and we’re picking on him for using options to pay employees? That seems awfully petty.
I’m sure there are plenty of people who did abuse options to the detriment of shareholders, but if you look at Apple’s share price I think he and his employees earned their options profits fair and square. Heck, I want Steve Jobs, Jonathan Ive, Scott Forestall, et al to be rich. And they are. That’s how our system should work!
Disclosure: Yes, I am an investor in Apple.
I would love to hear more about Detroit and Model Cities, by the way. That sounded like an interesting subject that deserves more information. Anyone have good resources about it?
D
The ‘Pie’ is being deliberately constrained within a ‘crust’ of marxism/materialism..
1. I share your concern, but wish you had normalized to something that reflects the cost of food, shelter, clothing, medical care, etc., i.e. the cost of living.
2. Our political leaders, our business leaders, and our cultural leaders have made a series of catastrophic choices. The result has been a long decline in America’s standard of living.
True, but take the next step: I suspect that the choices have not been catastrophic for them; quite the contrary. I suspect they’re quite pleased with their intelligence and ingenuity (as it were, >how can we be corrupt when we pass the laws that define corruption is?), and confident that they will never be called to account.
3. The longer we wait to correct the situation (if we do so), the more traumatic the process will be.
I agree with this essay. I have known for some time that our culture was deteriorating, and with that deterioration would have to come a decline in our standard of living. The world will mourn an honest and strong America.
But I do not see how we can come back so easily. If the culture disintegrates, if honesty and integrity are meaningless concepts to the people who are the elites of that culture, that culture will decay. This is particularly true if the average member of that culture is too ignorant to understand what is happening and therefore incapable of demanding something different.
I was terribly disappointed but not surprised that Paulson and the banksters on Wall Street had not been indicted for their malfeasance. And I knew that our political class and their appointees, including Bush, Rove, Frank, Dodd, Rubin, Summers, Greenspan and Clinton would all escape personal responsibility for setting in motion the mortgage meltdown and the collapse of our economic system. But then I realized, they are all part of our decaying culture and are given a pass by the average American so long as they are their guys, “Republican or Democrat.” But they all stink.
Excellent article. But I am not upbeat about the future of America. As the fall continues, the climb back upwards becomes much too difficult. Look at what happened to Russia and its people from the Communist takeover. That country now is a shell and its culture a vacuum. The same thing could happen to us. Take away the values of hard work, fair play, and commitment to a higher cause and you have what we have become as a society. And we should be ashamed that we allowed it to happen.
To all
While I certainly do not disagree with the findings of the author(s), I firmly believe it also comes down to a matter of choices. I chose to remain in the military until I reached the requirements for to be retired from the military and all the benifits thereof. I chose a STEM major, thereby making myself employable anywhere in the USA. I chose to save, I chose to encourage my children to fine state schools and STEM majors. I chose to be a faithful albeit difficult spouse(aren’t we all), etc. I, through minimal foresight, have found a way from the current crisis and the subsequent (many) aftershock(s). I have always believed from an early age that my elected government officials and unelected government officials to be be corrupt as any third world despot and having that worldview I chose to invest accordingly. Lastly, I suspect that slightly over half of the population of the USA have done the same.
Yours
Before I go on to read the full piece, I’d like to say that what he should be saying there as far as changes in culture being attributed to our decline, is that Gramsci and the Frankfurt School’s cultural Marxism program of societal sabotage is at the root of it all. If he doesn’t address that he’s missing the mark, in my view.
Your demand is too strong when so many other great polities have declined in large part to the same problem (I’m thinking of the Roman Republic in particular). Sure, our’s (the West’s) has a historically unique effort sabotaging us, but they wouldn’t have been so successful if they weren’t playing to universal human weaknesses.
In certain respects, the Roman corruption, and modern Marxism are not all that different. “Bread and Circuses” is a very old saying, after all.
Nothing here that isn’t entirely expected if you read Atlas Shrugged. A key element missed is the prolific “enabling” in our culture; it’s a two-sided sword. Half of us are utter mooches, parasites. The other half of us sanction it. And it’s in the [popular] morality, no doubt he’s right: it’s a cultural problem.
Agreed…not only sanction it, but forced through taxation to pay for it. The half that drags itself out of bed to slog out to a job, fights traffic to sweat through an eight hour day, then hands over nearly half of their earnings to the parasites who, if pulled off the teat, will turn all righteously indignant.
Parasites who, on their noble way to the next ‘Occupy,’ will cut down and burn the ‘organic, Non-GMO avocado, fruit and nut trees and berries’ that the productive half have planted. Not to mention entire neighborhoods likely to go up in flames by those who have nothing better to do than gripe about living in a ‘downright mean country.’
Need I mention the ‘bitter clingers’ will be blamed? No, I thought not.
*Yawn* just another day of Hope and Change.
Sorry, the greed of the left is far, far greater and more encompassing than “the greed the fat-cat Right”. The left wants your money and your adulation.
I’m not convinced of the latter half of Jacksonian’s argument at #8, but he has a lot of this correct.
Part of the GDP conundrum is manufacturing which is not something being done much in the US. GDP is an artificial measure in terms of gauging the long term outlook. A more appropriate measure is the value of patents and copyrights. Now, quick question — who owns, worldwide, the lion’s share of what is arguably the most important commodity of what an information oriented society requires? We do.
I don’t think that the analysis is complete without taking into account the shift of basis for wealth creation. Using a manufacturing basis is incorrect.
“Consider, for example, annual sales of automobiles. Auto sales peaked in 1985 (11 million) and have been declining at a fairly steady rate since 1999.”.
I thnink this part is off quite a bit. Car sales is down because lots of people were buying pricier SUV’s and Trucks. http://wardsauto.com/keydata/historical/UsaSa01summary.xls. The more accurate peak was 2004-2006. Yes, the last few years have been pretty hard but up until the big oil spike sales were pretty robust.
Also, to the point of the commenter above the quality is much better now the 20 years ago. This creates much more wealth effect even if the average age of vehicles is older. If my vehicle lasts 15 years instead of just 9 that is better and I and richer because of it.
Sorry, big miss here. . .
It’s hit-and-miss, we’ve found. Our 1993 Saturn runs a whole lot better than our 2006 Saturn (after the UAW finished messing them up, I know I know). OTOH my family was forced to drive a 1980 Buick Skylark (company car) so yes, we’ve come a long way.
Hsd me, then you lost me — as soon as you left a basket of commodities for a single commodity like gold. The analysis becomes too fragile. I suggest a rework with a basket of commodities.
Spent a lot of time listening to his diagnosis which I think was correct, but then he started to get coy about his solutions, which all turned out to be contained in this or that printed report that his company had prepared, and that he was generously going to send to me gratis. Didn’t wait around for the end of his sales pitch, to find out what I was going have to do to get those “gratis” reports.
EPIC Urges Court to Order Disclosure of CyberSecurity Authority
http://epic.org/foia/FOIAapp112409.pdf
I agree with the gist of this article. I don’t like some of the metrics. Quality of normal goods has gone up, so purchases have gone down, especially with cars. They last 1/4 million miles or more now, can achieve 300 hp while getting 25 miles to the gallon. 300 hp used to yield 6-9mpg. When your car lasts longer, you buy them less frequently.
I understand and agree with the overall theme here, but technological advances have swooped in to save us many times, and it will happen again, if we have not in the mean time completely destroyed our country with needless regulation and political graft. We can change this thing. The first step is to use real numbers, which this article attempts to do.
This article is a complete joke, and PJ Media ought to be ashamed for running it.
For example:
The author claims that per capita American productivity (GDP is a rough measure of the market value of all goods and services produced in a year) has fallen 500% since 1970…and anyone who believes that needs to have their head examined.
In non per capita terms, the claim is that America produced (roughly) $40 trillion of goods and services in 1970, and now we only produce $12 trillion.
Are you really dumb enough to believe that, readers? If you are, seek professional help immediately.
Our nation was founded on the principles of God’s law. When we move away from those principles, we do so at our own peril.
Don’t cut Social Security because we “paid” for it. Yes, but the politicans spent the money. Went to levy but the bank account was dry.
Sleep around, cat around, have flings. Then sign up for welfare. Don’t need no families. Now kids run wild. Large swaths of cities are killing zones and very few get educated. But they know how to get guns.
Unionized schools systems have destroyed education. we spend a large amount of money for a very poor product. Instead we have “green” indoctrination. Antismoking campaigns. And Sarah has two mommies. Aren’t the Muslims great campaign. You know that religion of peace that somehow keep blowin’ things up.
Let’s let in 10-12 million illegal aliens. Let’s put food stamps for them in the “stimulus” bill. Well, its one stimulus that works. They LOVE the free food courtesy the chumps, aka the U.S. taxpayers.
Let’s keep people unemployed so we pass unreasonable regulations to keep down jobs. No oil exploration in the U.S. But it seems to perfectly fine for the Saudi’s, Finish, Cubans, Brazilians to explore. Humm seems like we all inhabit the same planet that Nancy Pelosi wanted to “save”. Let’s make oil expensive to keep jobs down and the people poor. Let’s subsidize really expensive fuels like windmills, solar, and biofuels and push more jobs outside the U.S. And we know what a great “jobs” program unemployment is, so let’s keep people on it long enough to make them really unemployable.
Best of all, let’s hook people on entitlements and business on subsidies and then let’s bankrupt the U.S. so everyone goes broke at the same time.
Merry Chistmas. Let’s say it before Obama makes it illegal. How long before we have to whisper behind closed doors, so the “minders” don’t hear us?
Now that was a great diatribe! We are mad as hell and we aren’t gonna take it anymore!
“Advertorial” implies that Stansberry paid to have this advertisement in the editorial section of the site. Is that true?
Maybe PJM accepted this advertorial for the same reasons we’ve seen this huge torrent of Ron Paul hate lately after he was praised for years across the Rightosphere as ‘Dr. No’ — that is before he made a serious run at the presidency and became a threat to the oligarchy, and before anybody cared about some newsletter people he may have had the bad sense to hire twenty years ago but whom he also fired. Compared to Newt’s involvement in Fannie and (still defense of) Freddie, it’s like comparing someone who got caught shoplifting to an unrepentant bank robber. As for the racism charge, I’ll take how someone actually treats blacks and Hispanics in their personal and political lives (delivering hundreds of minority babies in Texas and advocating an end to the war on drugs which has incarcerated far too many black males) over someone who’s never been around racists but supports a Planned Parenthood abortion mill on every corner in black areas. Too bad Sully after making that excellent point and pointing to Paul’s stronger support among minorities in the CNN poll and in military contributions backed off like the Establishment wuss that he is.
PJM is broke and will take money from anyone, including the pathetic Newt campaign that can’t even get on the ballot in Virginia where at least three of post-Super Tuesday also-rans succeeded in gathering the minimum 10,000 signatures on time in 2008.
PJM’s best authors are those who don’t seem to be paid much or anything at all i.e. Richard Fernandez. You’ll notice Wretchard the Cat, being wise, has steered clear of endorsing any candidate or joining in the Ron Paul hate here.
Peace on Earth.
Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark are all, by North American standards, pretty centralized, biggish government and highly taxed, and yet they are in nowhere near the economic, and ‘quality of life’ mess that the US is. In fact, Norway and Denmark seem to alternate at first place on any surveys that assess ‘happiness, with all the mentioned countries way ahead of the US on any survey that measures quality of life variables. What I’d like to know is where there is an example of a highly respected, envied country that is small government, decentralized, and minimally taxed…and please don’t respond with the US as an answer. It is slipping into a dystopian nightmare largely because it is the closest to the economically unregulated standard held up by conservatives.
Albert, pal, those countries you mention are currently being colonized by Islam. Do you hate capitalism so much you’d settle for Sharia? I think so. From the tenor of your comments, you’d like Islam. It’s a religion of submission, and you sound like a sou-disant totalitarian to me. Pop quiz: When is a conformist not the smartest guy in the room, Al? When he’s alone there. Think about it.
In the meantime, do you have an answer for his question?
US companies have billions of US$ deposited outside the USA ,
these US company deposits outside the USA are not accounted for inside the US domestic economy .
So how can you measure the wealth of Americans when US companies are hiding their large wealth ,and large cash deposits outside USA .
This USA is like most Latin states where wealthy Latin Americans are hiding huge deposits outside Latin America .
I N T E G R I T Y – doing the right thing even when you KNOW for a fact no one is looking or will ever know.
This is why America is in decline. All of our faults and problems stem from a lack of genuine integrity. Without it we cannot love, we can not succeed, we cannot worship, we can not govern. Without it we are animals and will tear the world apart in the self centered, hedonistic rush for annihilation.
“To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.” ~William Shakespeare, Hamlet
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Yes integrity. Dictionary meaning: the unimpaired state of anything, wholeness,
uprightness, honesty.
As in “fairness, equality and social justice” the double helix, the DNA in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution of the USA?
Does it mean feeding sickness? The virus manifest in the past half century as one-worldism, internationalism, socialism/communism under the mantle of democratic liberalism which infested, fed on and poisoned with their CHANGE of meanings of the words of the bases of their DNA?
That virus that took over the body politic of Germany, Italy and Russia in the 1930s and destroyed each and every one of them. And Europe since the World War II as the “dream” of the United States of Europe beginning as the “European Union”, now in the throes of self-destruction. And that epitome of one
worldism the United Nations.
Having fed on and used up its earlier hosts this virus now seeks robust and strong bodies to sustain itself. The obvious new host the healthiest and
until infestation in the 1960s which weakened it to some extent by targetting the “brains” as control center,HOPEs to takeover the body completely.
In desperation of survival, it must quickly imbed, having given clear warning of its presence with its first act on acceptance by the body politic in its vaunted “Obamacare” formerly Hillarycare.
Bizarrely Americans, in danger of destruction, continue to feed this virus. Even suggest continue to final takeover. Despite knowing nothing trustworty of the DNA and identity of this agent.
The urgent need for Americans who care about themselves as Americans is to discover whatever can be discovered about the identity of this agent Obama and to do what is appropriate and necessary to rid the body politic of this manifest danger.
Otherwise history may well read as the monument of America’s existence:
The United States of America, 1776 – 2008 by auto-de-fe.