November 8, 2012
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What’s To Come
I know… I really wanted to post a ‘Thankful Thursday’, but I… have things to talk about. Mostly all of these projected global collapses I’m reading about. Someone posted a link to an interview with people post-election, and the Obama supporters were giddy because the re-election means ‘the destruction of Israel’. All of the Jewish blogs are up in arms over that one. All of them are announcing that Obama’s win means the end of the world – enter, please, Mosiach.
Then there’s George Ure, who is projecting complete catastrophe by… March, is it? He’s got figures and facts on the economics, with pending layoff lists and something about a proposed ‘carbon tax’ that is going to drive the remaining companies overseas? And then there’s some dude named Patrick Geryl has a quake timeline that works off the planetary alignments, and he’s predicting doomsday via terra event. Clif High’s wife is sick, and he sees that as a smaller scale of the ‘true reality for our planet’. Oh, and don’t forget that Age of Desolation dude who claims to have cracked Nostradamus’ code. According to him, the election will be contested, resulting in civil war, resulting in financial/economic collapse, etcetera, etcetera, yadda-yadda-yadda…
You wanna know what’s to come? I’ll show you:
((Oh, and I got these from CNN: LINK))
This is the National Debt during Obama’s first term.
If you want to know what’s next, keep adding height to this.
This is unemployment during his first term.
See how it spiked after the election, then came down by re-election?
Expect it to repeat this pattern, again.
Only this time, there can’t be a re-election,
so it might not come back down. It’s a 50/50 chance.
These are the gas prices during Obama’s first term.
Note the climb from $1.62 to $3.49. It did more than double!
Expect more of the same. It’s going to hurt. FYI.
This is the consumer price index. It took a few months to change
the direction the GOP had it going, but I’d say Obama
did a good job at the whole inflation scene, wouldn’t you?
Expect more of that. Things’ll get pricier.You don’t need Nostradamus or planetary alignment or your wife’s failing health to be a sign of things to come. Trust me, there’s enough data out there to do the job quite effectively. Employment is falling, debt is rising, inflation is running away from us, and gas prices are going to go thru the roof. If you want to know what’s next? Just follow the pretty blue lines.
Comments (10)
Remember – people who have no job but can no longer collect unemployment benefits are not counted as “unemployed”. So the numbers can go lower but won’t mean there’s suddenly lots of employed people. My economics proffesor said that there’s always a percentage of people who will never have a job because even though they’d like to work they have given up or just are not employable. She said that is usually around 5% but in the years since she earned her degree there was an agreement that because this number was so consistent everyone would agree to just drop that section of the numbers or magically make them disappear. She recommended always adding at least 5 to all the unemployed percentages. It went for both parties btw. Since that was over years ago it prolly is worse. I have tried explaining this to the “Taggerts” at my work – you cannot compare my cost per plate to the previous chef’s as the prices are so much higher. It’s like talking to the wall. Either you get it or you don’t and I am afraid most of the crowd doesn’t get it.
*Perhaps I am lucky but I have not felt effected by any of this? Not at all-prices go up but money still seems to come and go? People still purchase my work-I don’t have a traditional job really-I have to hustle and shake it to make the art. Even my friends…they seem to be doing fine. No one seems to be in serious trouble? Is it where I live? I don’t consider myself rich at all. I guess I just make good choices? So when I read about things getting worse-as I have for the past few years-I keep wondering when this will happen-because everyone is so sure that this year is worse than last and everything is going to tank tomorrow.
What I guess I am thinking is that it is not all that bad and it is what people make it. In the end I am an optimist so it is hard for me to be so depressed and weary of the future.
I will wait and see if this actually happens but there is just something inside saying that everything is going to be fine…
Yup. Folks that say O inherited all this mess aren’t looking at the facts…..and it IS going to get worse.
We’re doing OK, but it’s getting tight. And is looking to get tighter – of course – rather soon. I feel for those folk that haven’t prepared for tougher times.
I’m just amazed how people just go on spending like they always have. They know things are getting tight and you hear people whine about the gas prices and such. But it seems no one is really hurting right now. Yeah, things are going to get tougher but it seems the drones keep up like they always have. There’s always the government and family and friends to fall back on, right? :nuts:
idolatrieartist: have you ever had to live paycheck to paycheck? have you ever had to decide whether to eat or make a late payment on your bills? have you ever stood around with heavy school loans and a college degree, want to work, but be denied because while you have a degree, you’re not ‘experienced’? have you ever lived without health insurance, and be faced with mounting hospital bills? have you ever worked your tail off to pay those bills instead of relying on the state? have you ever had trouble obtaining a job with your skillset, so you’ve been forced to work multiple low paying jobs to like.. survive? have you ever watched your 401k go down the crapper? do you notice when your taxes increase and your property values go down? do you notice when your neighbours abandon their homes and pets in the middle of the night (foreclosed)? if you don’t notice any of these things or have experienced any of these things, then keep telling yourself it’ll be okay. sorry to sound snarky or a cynic, but just because you don’t notice a problem (and it’s not hard to see there’s a problem) doesn’t mean there isn’t one. *you* may be fine, but put yourself in the rest of the country’s shoes. and you don’t have to go too far up I95 to see the glaring poverty, rising gas prices, crime associated with poverty, greed, and desperation, and people hopelessly dependant on a system that destroys you from within.
sure there are alot of people doing ‘just fine’ (some of those people remain shockingly oblivious), but there’s alot of other people barely making it, alot of others ‘getting by’, and others working hard, feeling the pinch, and prepare themselves to make sure they don’t reach a bad point.
Stephanine: your econ prof is most absolutely right, and any employment we may be currently seeing will be artifical, because these will be seasonal/temporary and or government employment.
I agree with much of what is on those graphs, except for gas prices. there is very little this president, the next president, or the next next president (irregardless of his political mindset) can do about this. he can appear to do something to make people feel all good inside or something, but it would be nothing but fakery. should we continue drilling everywhere we can at home? (any new projects actually take years upon years to give a result that make any sort of impact), oil speculation still happens, we’re indebted to the Saudis and love their steady flow of production, we’re still in warmode, OPEC has a lot to do with it and natural disasters too (and the more we ‘drill baby drill’.. well those natural disasters aren’t going to go away either).
Anna: feel free to delete this post if you feel it comes off a bit too hostile sounding or snarky. it’s probably PMS.
I’ve read WAY nastier, today. And I don’t think you were being mean, just sharing what YOU see and/or have experienced (and what your parents/siblings/fiance are experiencing). IA understands that different people are in different places.
It doesn’t hit Brian or I terribly, either – his job is secure, our house is secure, the only bank-held debt we have is his new truck loan, and we’re doing well (mostly because I stay home, cook in, and cut corners A LOT).
That’s not to say I don’t see the suffering. Brian’s uncle and aunt were both laid off. Neither have been able to get jobs. He’s now working at Walmart (any job is better than no job), but that’s hard, y’know? And I’ve watched the can good prices double in the past four years – that’s kind of sobering. It isn’t TERRIBLE, yet, but… more and more of that? It’s like boiling a frog.
I guess Artist’s point is that the majority are not hurting too badly, yet, even though the numbers aren’t good. But the thing is (and I don’t mean to offend, either, but) it’s the bad workers, the slackers, the ‘slower’ people, the ones with medical problems, and the less capable that are the ones who are feeling it the most right now. Not the smart, innovative, motivated, healthier, and more talented people.
See, what happened is that after the economic crash of 8/10/08, companies had to shed the ‘extra weight’. Anyone not doing a good job, slower than the others, making more mistakes than others, all ‘bluster’… these people were let go first. Then what happened was that the businesses realized that they were still managing the same output WITHOUT those individuals, given a little more work from the others to make up for it. So they didn’t hire the ‘lessers’ back. And again, I don’t mean to offend, but that’s the way the world works. Survival of the fittest. Brian’s shop was one of those – they let go something like eight guys, and are still at the same production level without them, given half-day Saturdays and the occasional half-day Sunday. PLUS they don’t have to pay health, vacation, benefits, etc. to the ‘extra weight’… so they come out ahead.
Which is why only certain people groups are feeling it, and others aren’t. And it’s not just the ‘undesirables’… ANYONE who is new to a job is also let go. It’s a seniority thing – the newbie is the first guy to be given his walking papers. So the young whippersnappers fresh out of college and thinking they’re going to make a fat income, with this ego trip to go along with it? BIG shock to their systems. Because companies don’t want the ego, they want someone who’ll start little and work up. Which you can do WITHOUT the college degree… it’s longevity and productiveness that matters, now, it’s not ‘awesome’ and ‘degree-carrying’, anymore. It’s humility, integrity, and productivity.
It’s the young, the inexperienced, and the ‘undesirables’ that are suffering at this point. But now that this ‘first shed’ is over, what happens next will be more painful, and more difficult. And it will hurt WAY more. It’s just a matter of time. Luckily, we HAVE that time – to stock up a pantry, to save up some money to fall back on, to pay off those loans or shed OUR ‘extra weight’ and be ready for the inevitable.
Because with our nation’s deficit? Our future isn’t going to be pretty, and that’s just the hard, realistic truth.
Yeah I stay home, but my sister and brother both work crappy, crappy jobs. No medical insurance. No security. My sister drives 75 miles One Way to get to a job that pays less than $9/hour. Part time. She has 60 credits toward her SS retirement already cuz she has worked her butt off her whole life – recently she applied to the local hardware store – she has 12+ of retail experience. They had one job opening and over 300 people applied. Our town has less than 6,000 people between the ages of 18-44.
My brother makes minimum wage changing oil at a car wash.They have an open garage so they have to close shop when it rains. Two weeks of work gets him about $300…so $600 a month? Maybe $800 if he can pick up some extra days? Who can live on that? He drives all the way to my house (75 miles) on his days off so he can get a few decent meals and do laundry. He rents a bedroom to live in from a disabled lady during the week.
One of my step son’s best friends from high school – now lives near him in AZ. Went to Law School -good student- $180K of school DEBT – and he just got a job – guess where? Target – minimum wage!
And I don’t see this stuff getting any better soon.
Thanks for allowing me to comment and to share my thoughts.
Because I don’t want to weigh down your comment section-I will just say this-I went to high school and then to college. My parents didn’t have money to pay for me to go to college-but they insisted I get a job and that I had to go. So I worked and paid for college all by myself. Once out I realized that I had a weak career choice for making money.(Artist? UGH!)
So after a few low paying jobs at art stores, I decided to go back to college and get my Master’s so I could teach college art. I had NO MONEY and was just married. So I discovered that colleges offer “Grad Assistant programs” where you work for 20hrs a week for the college & they wave the tuition. I worked for 3yrs, got my Master’s and sure enough I got a position teaching. Anyway-I only teach once or twice a week now because I want to make art full time.
I guess what I am saying-is I made choices to NOT have debt. To be very educated. To make a living at what I always wanted to do. It came at a cost at times. Like not having kids. I chose a career instead of family. There are times NOW that I wonder if I should have had kids…(no kids means more money)
I have no help other than just my husband. No hand outs no support system from any other family-it is just us. He works in a good position having worked up to where he is now 16yrs. We have healthcare because of his job. Happens to be really good healthcare because he works Government/Hospital.
Silly me-I believe that if you are not happy-just chart a path to happiness. It is really that easy-You know-Figure out what you want and go get it. (But yet so many people can not do this)
Maybe they don’t know how to be happy? I don’t know why. I am not at all unusual? I am rather average. I just don’t live in a place where I see hardship like the kind of thing I’m reading about. I have yet to witness anything other than the daily crap I see and have seen naturally. Like homeless people on the streets of the City. Those who will always have hard times.
So what does that make me? Lucky? Clever? Determined? Stubborn? Smart? Untouched?
I suppose we shall see shortly if what you are saying is correct.
(P.S. I do know how to shoot a gun-spent time target shooting so if Zombies are coming I am good. I prefer to kick ass than to be killed)
(Again-Thank you, this was a good forum for conversation-& I thank you for your patience…)
Exactly! And Brian and I have continued this conversation, too… it’s been very good dialogue – the exact opposite of another conversation that I tried to have at the same time, elsewhere. Makes me appreciate you guys all that much more! :vvv:
Man, I don’t even get 24 hours, and they prove me right!
Obama faces Fiscal Cliff