Jan 17·edited Jan 17Liked by NE - nakedemperor.substack.com
The American dream has evolved. My parents took very few vacations and those we did take were usually camping or visiting family: very affordable. We occasionally went out to eat but mostly ate home-cooked meals which was the norm at that time. They differentiated between want vs. need and were pretty frugal in general. I am more like my parents, but my kids are more "live for the moment." I have never seen so much pay as you go, but for things that people do not need. We want more than we need.
Have you asked your kids if they would rather have the option of saving for a home compared to eating out? I believe that many young people see saving for a house as unachievable so they instead spend their money on eating out,. Noting also that the money they spend on eating out would not be nearly enough to buy a home any more. People also work longer hours and both partners work so you can't compare the lifestyle of a boomer with a housewife who has time to cook with a millennial couple who both work full time or more.
It used to be true but no longer is. Now responsible people are punished w/ rules, regs & esp higher taxes if one saves money, pays off debt (or takes on little in the 1st place), holds a job, gets married, obeys the law, on & on. If you refuse to work, live off the government dole, lie/cheat/steal/rape/murder/do drugs, crap on sidewalks & ESPECIALLY if you cross the border by the millions as illegal aliens, the red carpet is unfurled, you are given phones, credit cards, tickets to destination of choice & free/luxury hotel housing, healthcare, education & right to vote. I could keep going but I’m getting angry & depressed
What's wrong with celebrating those who ring the bell on Wall St as their venture goes public and they are rewarded for being the winners in raping the planet?
Should they not be allowed to use the funds to purchase super yachts and private jets?
This is the dream. Everyone wants to live large.
Dumbest species ever. Nothing else even comes close
I guess I don’t understand how your comment pertaining to Wall St & everyone wanting to “live large” relates to mine about responsible people just wanting to live their lives & be left alone (esp by government) vs. irresponsible slugs & grifters, Fast Eddy.
I’ll agree re dumbest species ever though. The actions of “world leaders”, “experts” & 75-80% of the planet buying in on the scamdemic are proof enough of that, understanding it goes even further back
Sooner or later that will come to an end. The money vanishes and then people are left to fend for themselves. This is where moral terpitude takes over. Let’s hope the illegals have some.
Seems to me that the whole of the West is in the last stages of decline. The oligarchs and technocrats and multinational corporations are going to find that their wealth is pretty worthless when the plebs reach the state of serfdom. If people are forced back into being peasants then they won't be consuming stuff or travelling or buying anything other than basic commodities. That's not going to keep the wheels of wealth turning is it? Blackrock and Bill Gates can buy everything in the world but they can't fix a leaky drain in their own mansion or repair their car/yacht/plane themselves. They can't make a suit of clothes or grow the cotton needed. China will collapse without the western plebs buying their crap so they won't be much help. The western serfs will need to organise - I think Lenin had some ideas.
I don’t blame Generation Z for living at home or little interest in having children. They tend to see it coming way before their brainwashed parents ever do. Sometimes I can only imagine how frightening this all is for them.
I find them inspiring. They are unwilling to put up with the soulless corporations or knowingly being anyone’s serf. Any one notice how often MSM bashes them? Gee I wonder why
In the 1960s, the monied people, realizing how expensive it was and would continue to be to maintain a middle class, decided then to start moving all the money out of the U.S. and to start draining money particularly from the middle class. Maintaining a middle class meant that we had some of the money, and "they" didn't. The only way to change that dynamic was to transfer all that money, and the means to make that money, predominantly overseas where labor and materials for making things were much cheaper. The moving money process really started in the 1970s, accelerated tremendously in the 1990s, and we're seeing the fruits of their efforts today, where the wealthiest .1% own more wealth that the rest of us 99.9% combined. It's hard to believe this all was planned; it's even harder to believe that people would be willing to destroy so much wealth and prosperity only to collect it for themselves. Pure evil.
Occasionally, I ransom real silver coins from the till, and other old coins of interest. The paper money is less interesting, but for a moment, I think I handled a dollar that had the eye at the top of the pyramid winking.
You know what they say about comparing apples to oranges. It took less income to own a home fifty years ago. But that home probably didn't have air conditioning. And it certainly didn't have wi-fi and internet, because they didn't exist. Chances are there was no washer and dryer. Go to the laundromat. Earlier than that, everything was washed by hand, because there were no machines to do any of it.
As for healthcare, fifty years ago, there were no organ transplants (OK, they were in the experimental stages. If you had a transplant, expect to die). There were no artificial joints. There WAS such a thing as 'exploratory surgery'. Thats where they operated just to see if they could figure out what was wrong. There were no MRI's or CT scan with which to see from the outside. Laparoscopic surgery didn't exist, so many surgeries were much more debilitating than today.
Cars didn't have seat belt or air bags. Like your home, no air conditioning. They DID have carburetors, which made starting and driving a car trickier than it is today. The reliable lifespan of a car was four years and forty thousand miles.
Now for the good news. Electronics are FAR better. TVs cost no more in REAL dollars today than they did then, but they are far superior. And of course, today we have those new-fangled computers. That means I can type this on a keyboard instead of a typewriter. And that means I don't need to make carbon copies, and what I'm writing can be reproduced instantly, anywhere. Same for photos and videos.
Now, for more bad news. Education SUCKS. A college degree today is roughly the equivalent of a high school diploma fifty years ago. And that may explain people's apprehensive attitudes about the future. So many people know so little, and I think people are beginning to realize that something just ain't right. Plumbers, welders, good auto mechanics are all in great demand, and can make north of 100K/yr. That's because they are meeting a need. Many college graduates have gone into hock for many tens of thousands of dollars, and have no skills that they can rely on for income.
People know that something is wrong. But it certainly isn't that we have less opportunity than before. It's certainly not that our standard of living isn't higher than before. It's that, fifty years ago, people were given accurate advice on how to get ahead. It made sense. Now we are given BS by demagogues and 'influencers' and have come to realize that it's all a giant scam. Physically, we are far better off than before. Spiritually, not so much.
Question... do you really want to achieve the so called American dream in this day and age?
Yes, it is always beneficial to have money and especially disposable income, but with garnering more possessions comes even more expense and hassle.... property taxes, registration taxes, outrageous insurance premiums (homeowners insurance is now a complete joke), expensive utilities, and so on and so forth.
There is a doctor posting on twitter -- Dr. Simon Goddek -- talking about how he now lives in the jungle of Brazil, leading a simple, more healthful, natural and less burdened life, which in this day and age seems a better dream to follow
You don’t need to have a McMansion, your car doesn’t need to have all the bells and whistles, & you don’t need ripped designer jeans, etc.
Don’t go to college, go to trade school for a trade that will always be needed; work hard, have a job before you get married, get married before you have kids, patronize reusit shops if you need to; spend less than you make ; only borrow for an asset that will increase in value (a home, for example), save regularly for rainy days,emergencies, & retirement, in that order. Move to a place where the taxes are lower & not supporting schools that don’t have your values.
All easier to do if no TV, no smart phone (& certainly none for the kids until they have a job and pay for it.
My husband is a lawyer and I work part-time in a large department store. It seems like one step forward, two steps back. Yes we are paying for the 3 younger children to be properly educated. It’s paycheck to paycheck.
It doesn’t help that at my store when it’s time for your yearly review and raise it’s: you performed great but since the store overall did not meet its sales goals that counts against you…it’s a team effort. Yes I still work there.
depends all on what you are happy with. I think it never held true. There have almost always been very rich who did not do a thing but profit on those that worked till they dropped dead. I worked when needed and am happy with what I have and can afford. I can even afford a handful of paid subscriptions and yours is on the waiting list. If you are happy with a simple life, no need to work till you drop.
This is directly linked to printing money and giving it to already wealthy people. It is similar to housing market, if you already own a house you can get another mortgage easily but if you don't, you will never earn enough for a first home.
My takeaway from this is that you don't need to work hard. You need to understand the system of donations via NGO, funds, how to steal money via public contracts or government policy and how to steal money from others via influencing (stock market, crypto and others). They manipulate all of this "assets" to steal money from others - there is no real game or any reality behind the prices any more. It's just one big monopoly with everyone's money and pension funds.
The only solution to this is to vote for more regulation of markets, finances and smaller government - no more gambling with money, no more QE, no more zero interest rates, no more bailouts, no more donations, if there would be rules to never pump out again this money there, the real (gold / limited) money would go to the quality then to quantity and the stupid would lose their money and never get them again. If you support politics that everyone should get universal income (helicopter money), the rich will always extract the money from the stupid one. People have to earn the money, to value them.
Also, I think the only way is to get back to gold, no more virtual money, even small part of gold can make difference and also efforts to reverse the globalization - more tariffs, zolls and put back again borders! It took me quite some time to understand this, but now I am more clearer on this then ever - just wondering, how could someone let this happen in the past.
I'm not sure what the definition of "American Dream" is, but given the US was the only country to profit from WWI, I would say most of it has been financed through war.
Kind of hard to maintain the dream as it morphs into a 3rd world country.
Welcome to Amerika.
The American dream has evolved. My parents took very few vacations and those we did take were usually camping or visiting family: very affordable. We occasionally went out to eat but mostly ate home-cooked meals which was the norm at that time. They differentiated between want vs. need and were pretty frugal in general. I am more like my parents, but my kids are more "live for the moment." I have never seen so much pay as you go, but for things that people do not need. We want more than we need.
Gotta keep the economy growing otherwise you enter a deflationary death spiral... credit makes the world go round
Have you asked your kids if they would rather have the option of saving for a home compared to eating out? I believe that many young people see saving for a house as unachievable so they instead spend their money on eating out,. Noting also that the money they spend on eating out would not be nearly enough to buy a home any more. People also work longer hours and both partners work so you can't compare the lifestyle of a boomer with a housewife who has time to cook with a millennial couple who both work full time or more.
It used to be true but no longer is. Now responsible people are punished w/ rules, regs & esp higher taxes if one saves money, pays off debt (or takes on little in the 1st place), holds a job, gets married, obeys the law, on & on. If you refuse to work, live off the government dole, lie/cheat/steal/rape/murder/do drugs, crap on sidewalks & ESPECIALLY if you cross the border by the millions as illegal aliens, the red carpet is unfurled, you are given phones, credit cards, tickets to destination of choice & free/luxury hotel housing, healthcare, education & right to vote. I could keep going but I’m getting angry & depressed
What's wrong with celebrating those who ring the bell on Wall St as their venture goes public and they are rewarded for being the winners in raping the planet?
Should they not be allowed to use the funds to purchase super yachts and private jets?
This is the dream. Everyone wants to live large.
Dumbest species ever. Nothing else even comes close
I guess I don’t understand how your comment pertaining to Wall St & everyone wanting to “live large” relates to mine about responsible people just wanting to live their lives & be left alone (esp by government) vs. irresponsible slugs & grifters, Fast Eddy.
I’ll agree re dumbest species ever though. The actions of “world leaders”, “experts” & 75-80% of the planet buying in on the scamdemic are proof enough of that, understanding it goes even further back
No mere "species" could be that dumb -- lemmings included. The problem must be with those assigned some sort of stewardship.
But 75-80% of world population DID act like lemmings or sheep….
I believe Fast Eddy was being sarcastic. Wall St has a lot to do with all the economic bubbles .
I understand that he’s being sarcastic; he usually is 😂
Sooner or later that will come to an end. The money vanishes and then people are left to fend for themselves. This is where moral terpitude takes over. Let’s hope the illegals have some.
Seems to me that the whole of the West is in the last stages of decline. The oligarchs and technocrats and multinational corporations are going to find that their wealth is pretty worthless when the plebs reach the state of serfdom. If people are forced back into being peasants then they won't be consuming stuff or travelling or buying anything other than basic commodities. That's not going to keep the wheels of wealth turning is it? Blackrock and Bill Gates can buy everything in the world but they can't fix a leaky drain in their own mansion or repair their car/yacht/plane themselves. They can't make a suit of clothes or grow the cotton needed. China will collapse without the western plebs buying their crap so they won't be much help. The western serfs will need to organise - I think Lenin had some ideas.
I don’t blame Generation Z for living at home or little interest in having children. They tend to see it coming way before their brainwashed parents ever do. Sometimes I can only imagine how frightening this all is for them.
I find them inspiring. They are unwilling to put up with the soulless corporations or knowingly being anyone’s serf. Any one notice how often MSM bashes them? Gee I wonder why
Some gen Zs are almost 30.
In the 1960s, the monied people, realizing how expensive it was and would continue to be to maintain a middle class, decided then to start moving all the money out of the U.S. and to start draining money particularly from the middle class. Maintaining a middle class meant that we had some of the money, and "they" didn't. The only way to change that dynamic was to transfer all that money, and the means to make that money, predominantly overseas where labor and materials for making things were much cheaper. The moving money process really started in the 1970s, accelerated tremendously in the 1990s, and we're seeing the fruits of their efforts today, where the wealthiest .1% own more wealth that the rest of us 99.9% combined. It's hard to believe this all was planned; it's even harder to believe that people would be willing to destroy so much wealth and prosperity only to collect it for themselves. Pure evil.
Occasionally, I ransom real silver coins from the till, and other old coins of interest. The paper money is less interesting, but for a moment, I think I handled a dollar that had the eye at the top of the pyramid winking.
Yes, it has disappeared behind a big 'Black Rock.'
You know what they say about comparing apples to oranges. It took less income to own a home fifty years ago. But that home probably didn't have air conditioning. And it certainly didn't have wi-fi and internet, because they didn't exist. Chances are there was no washer and dryer. Go to the laundromat. Earlier than that, everything was washed by hand, because there were no machines to do any of it.
As for healthcare, fifty years ago, there were no organ transplants (OK, they were in the experimental stages. If you had a transplant, expect to die). There were no artificial joints. There WAS such a thing as 'exploratory surgery'. Thats where they operated just to see if they could figure out what was wrong. There were no MRI's or CT scan with which to see from the outside. Laparoscopic surgery didn't exist, so many surgeries were much more debilitating than today.
Cars didn't have seat belt or air bags. Like your home, no air conditioning. They DID have carburetors, which made starting and driving a car trickier than it is today. The reliable lifespan of a car was four years and forty thousand miles.
Now for the good news. Electronics are FAR better. TVs cost no more in REAL dollars today than they did then, but they are far superior. And of course, today we have those new-fangled computers. That means I can type this on a keyboard instead of a typewriter. And that means I don't need to make carbon copies, and what I'm writing can be reproduced instantly, anywhere. Same for photos and videos.
Now, for more bad news. Education SUCKS. A college degree today is roughly the equivalent of a high school diploma fifty years ago. And that may explain people's apprehensive attitudes about the future. So many people know so little, and I think people are beginning to realize that something just ain't right. Plumbers, welders, good auto mechanics are all in great demand, and can make north of 100K/yr. That's because they are meeting a need. Many college graduates have gone into hock for many tens of thousands of dollars, and have no skills that they can rely on for income.
People know that something is wrong. But it certainly isn't that we have less opportunity than before. It's certainly not that our standard of living isn't higher than before. It's that, fifty years ago, people were given accurate advice on how to get ahead. It made sense. Now we are given BS by demagogues and 'influencers' and have come to realize that it's all a giant scam. Physically, we are far better off than before. Spiritually, not so much.
See my comment to jwslaw. You don’t need
Question... do you really want to achieve the so called American dream in this day and age?
Yes, it is always beneficial to have money and especially disposable income, but with garnering more possessions comes even more expense and hassle.... property taxes, registration taxes, outrageous insurance premiums (homeowners insurance is now a complete joke), expensive utilities, and so on and so forth.
There is a doctor posting on twitter -- Dr. Simon Goddek -- talking about how he now lives in the jungle of Brazil, leading a simple, more healthful, natural and less burdened life, which in this day and age seems a better dream to follow
You don’t need to have a McMansion, your car doesn’t need to have all the bells and whistles, & you don’t need ripped designer jeans, etc.
Don’t go to college, go to trade school for a trade that will always be needed; work hard, have a job before you get married, get married before you have kids, patronize reusit shops if you need to; spend less than you make ; only borrow for an asset that will increase in value (a home, for example), save regularly for rainy days,emergencies, & retirement, in that order. Move to a place where the taxes are lower & not supporting schools that don’t have your values.
All easier to do if no TV, no smart phone (& certainly none for the kids until they have a job and pay for it.
best advice I've heard in a long time
My husband is a lawyer and I work part-time in a large department store. It seems like one step forward, two steps back. Yes we are paying for the 3 younger children to be properly educated. It’s paycheck to paycheck.
It doesn’t help that at my store when it’s time for your yearly review and raise it’s: you performed great but since the store overall did not meet its sales goals that counts against you…it’s a team effort. Yes I still work there.
It's not normal now though so what is the reason?
depends all on what you are happy with. I think it never held true. There have almost always been very rich who did not do a thing but profit on those that worked till they dropped dead. I worked when needed and am happy with what I have and can afford. I can even afford a handful of paid subscriptions and yours is on the waiting list. If you are happy with a simple life, no need to work till you drop.
It's the result of so called Quantitative Easing started after 2009 financial crisis - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantitative_easing
This is directly linked to printing money and giving it to already wealthy people. It is similar to housing market, if you already own a house you can get another mortgage easily but if you don't, you will never earn enough for a first home.
My takeaway from this is that you don't need to work hard. You need to understand the system of donations via NGO, funds, how to steal money via public contracts or government policy and how to steal money from others via influencing (stock market, crypto and others). They manipulate all of this "assets" to steal money from others - there is no real game or any reality behind the prices any more. It's just one big monopoly with everyone's money and pension funds.
The only solution to this is to vote for more regulation of markets, finances and smaller government - no more gambling with money, no more QE, no more zero interest rates, no more bailouts, no more donations, if there would be rules to never pump out again this money there, the real (gold / limited) money would go to the quality then to quantity and the stupid would lose their money and never get them again. If you support politics that everyone should get universal income (helicopter money), the rich will always extract the money from the stupid one. People have to earn the money, to value them.
Also, I think the only way is to get back to gold, no more virtual money, even small part of gold can make difference and also efforts to reverse the globalization - more tariffs, zolls and put back again borders! It took me quite some time to understand this, but now I am more clearer on this then ever - just wondering, how could someone let this happen in the past.
The American Dream has turned into the American Nightmare. This is why I say we need to start taking actions outside of what’s told to us by the dream, eg: voting: https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/why-we-need-to-stop-voting-in-presidential
You can’t wake up from the dream if you still choose to stay asleep.
I'm not sure what the definition of "American Dream" is, but given the US was the only country to profit from WWI, I would say most of it has been financed through war.
“if you work hard you’ll get ahead”
Any of us who grew up in the '50s can attest to this. (I didn't vote in the poll because it requires in my view more nuanced questions.)
"Of the winners, by the winners, for the winners" > https://x.com/MarkKaposvari/status/1747192999186944182?s=20