THE SUBPRIME FINAL SOLUTION

The MSM did their usual spin job on the consumer credit data released earlier this week. They reported a 5.4% increase in consumer debt outstanding to an ALL-TIME high of $3.051 trillion. In the Orwellian doublethink world we currently inhabit, the consumer taking on more debt is seen as a constructive sign. Consumer debt has grown by 5.8% over the first nine months of 2013, after growing by 6.1% in 2012 and 4.1% in 2011. The storyline being sold by the corporate MSM propaganda machine, serving the establishment, is that consumers’ taking on debt is a sure sign of economic recovery. They must be confident about the future and rolling in dough from their new part-time jobs as Pizza Hut delivery men. Plus, they are now eligible for free healthcare, compliments of Obama, once they can log-on.

Of course, buried at the bottom of the Federal Reserve press release and never mentioned on CNBC or the other dying legacy media outlets is the facts and details behind the all-time high in consumer credit. They count on the high probability the average math challenged American has no clue regarding the distinction between revolving and non-revolving credit or who controls the distribution of such credit. It is fascinating examining the historical data on the Federal Reserve website and realizing how far we’ve fallen as a society in the last 45 years.

http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g19/HIST/cc_hist_sa_levels.html

Revolving credit is a fancy term for credit card debt. Imagine our society today without credit cards. That sounds outrageous to the debt addicted populace inhabiting our suburban wasteland and urban badlands. What is truly outrageous is the fact we have allowed ourselves to be duped into $846 billion of revolving credit card debt charging an average interest rate of 13% by Wall Street bankers who have used the American Dream of a better life as the bait to lure a dumbed down easily manipulated populace into believing that material possessions purchased with high interest debt represented advancement rather than servitude. Debt accumulation is seen as a badge of honor. Keeping up with the Joneses is all that matters. Our shallow culture has no notion about the concept of deferred gratification or saving to pay for your wants.

A shocking fact (to historically challenged government educated drones) revealed by the Federal Reserve data is that credit card debt did not exist prior to 1968. How could people live their lives without credit cards? It must have been a nightmare. You mean to tell me when people wanted new clothes, jewelry, a TV, or to eat out at a restaurant, they actually had to save up the cash to do so? What kind of barbaric system would make you live within your means? The Depression era adults had somehow survived for over two decades after WWII without buying cheap foreign crap they didn’t need with money they didn’t have using a piece of plastic with a Wall Street bank logo emblazoned on the front.

1968 marked a turning point for America. LBJ’s welfare/warfare state had begun the downward spiral of a once rational country. We chose guns and butter, with the bill being charged to the national credit card. It was fitting that Wall Street introduced the credit card in 1968.

  • There were 200 million Americans in 1968 and $2 billion of credit card debt outstanding, or $10 per person.
  • By 1980 there were 227 million Americans and $54 billion of credit card debt outstanding, or $238 per person.
  • By 1990 there were 249 million Americans and $230 billion of credit card debt outstanding, or $924 per person.
  • By 2000 there were 281 million Americans and $650 billion of credit card debt outstanding, $2,313 per person.
  • By July of 2008 credit card debt outstanding peaked at $1.022 trillion and the population was 304 million, with credit card debt per person topping out at $3,361 per person.

Over the course of 40 years, the population of this country grew by 52%. Credit card debt grew by 51,000%. Credit card debt per person grew by 33,600%. This was a case of credit induced mass hysteria and it continues today. Have the American people benefitted from this enslavement in chains of debt? I’d venture to answer no. Who benefitted? The corporate fascist oligarchy of Wall Street banks, mega-corporations sourcing their crap from Chinese slave labor factories, and politicians in the back pockets of the bankers and corporate CEOs benefitted.

The evil oligarch scum grew too greedy and blew up the worldwide financial system in 2008. Since July 2008 credit card debt has declined by $175 billion, with the majority of the decrease from banks writing off bad debt and passing it along to the American taxpayer through their TARP bailout and 0% money from their puppet Bernanke. It bottomed out at $834 billion in April 2011 and has only grown by a miniscule $13 billion in the last 29 months, and only $1.7 billion in the last twelve months. The muppets have refused to cooperate by running up those credit cards. Not having jobs, paying 40% more for health insurance due to Obamacare, and real inflation exceeding 5% on the things they need to live, have caused some hesitation among the delusional masses. Even a government educated, math challenged, iGadget addicted moron realizes their credit card is the only thing standing between them and living in a cardboard box on a street corner.

Your owners have been forced to implement Plan B. The monster they have created is like a shark. The debt must keep growing or the monster will die. In 2008, the oligarchs were staring into the abyss. Their wealth, power and control were in grave jeopardy. Rather than accept the consequences of their actions like men and allowing the economy to return to normalcy, these weasels have doubled down by accelerating the debt production and dropping it from helicopters to subprime borrowers across the land, like unemployed construction workers named Gus getting a degree in liberal arts from the University of Phoenix while sitting in their basement in boxer shorts. The Federal Reserve Black Hawks are hovering over the inner cities dropping Bennie Bucks on the very same people they put in McMansions with no doc negative amortization subprime mortgages in 2005, so they can occupy Cadillac Escalades for a couple years before defaulting again. The appearance of normalcy is crucial to the evil oligarchs as they attempt to pillage the remaining loot in this country.

Before the credit card was rolled out in 1968, there was non-revolving debt strictly related to auto loans made by banks and credit unions. The Federal government was nowhere to be found in the mix as banks and consumers made economic decisions based upon risk and reward. There were $110 billion of loans outstanding to a population of 200 million, or $550 per person. The Federal government stuck their nose into the free market with the creation of Sallie Mae in the 1970’s. But they were still a miniscule portion of total consumer debt at $115 billion in 2008, or only 11% of total consumer debt outstanding. The chart below from Zero Hedge reveals what has happened since the oligarchs crashed the financial system with their vampire squid blood sucking tentacles syphoning the lifeblood from the American middle class. Non-revolving debt has increased from $1.65 trillion in July 2008 to $2.2 trillion today, solely due to Obama and his minions doling out subprime auto and student loan debt to anyone that can scratch an X on a loan document.

If middle class consumers were unwilling to borrow and spend, the oligarchs were going to use their control over the government to dole out billions to subprime borrowers in a final, ultimately futile, attempt to keep this Ponzi scheme going for a while longer. The subprime game worked wonders in the final phase of the housing bubble. And now the losses will fall solely on the 50% of Americans who actually pay taxes. It wasn’t a mistake the Federal government took complete control of the student loan market in 2009. It isn’t a mistake the only TARP recipient the Feds have not attempted to disengage from happens to be the largest issuer of subprime auto loans in the world – Ally Financial (aka GMAC, Ditech, ResCap).

In 2008 there was $730 billion of student loan debt outstanding, of which the Federal government was responsible for $120 billion. Five short years later there is $1.2 trillion of student loan debt outstanding and the Federal government (aka YOU the taxpayer) is responsible for $716 billion. Using my top notch math skills, I’ve determined that student loan debt has risen by $470 billion, while Federal government issuance of student loan debt has expanded by $600 billion. The rational risk adverse lenders have reduced their exposure to the most subprime borrowers on earth, undergrads at the University of Phoenix and thousands of other “for profit” educational black holes across the country. Only an organization who didn’t care about getting repaid would lend billions to borrowers without a job, hope of a job, or intellectual ability to hold a job. A critical thinking person might wonder why student loan debt would rise by almost $500 billion in 5 years when college enrollment has grown by only 2 million. That comes to $250,000 per additional student.

The Federal government couldn’t possibly have distributed $500 billion to anyone with a pulse as a way to manipulate the national unemployment rate lower, because anyone in school is not considered unemployed. Do you think the $500 billion was spent on tuition and books? Or do you think those “students” used it to buy iGadgets, HDTVs, weed and Twitter stock? With default rates already at all-time highs and accelerating skyward and $146 billion of loans already in default, you don’t need a PhD from the University of Phoenix (where default rates exceed 30%) like Shaq to realize the American taxpayer is going to get it good and hard once again.

My personal observations during my daily trek through the slums of West Philly would befuddle someone who didn’t understand the oligarch scheme to create an artificial auto recovery by distributing auto loans to deadbeats, the SNAP army, and hip hop nitwits. As I maneuver quickly through the West Philly badlands in my four year old paid off compact car praying I don’t get caught in gang crossfire, I see an inordinate number of brand new BMWs, Mercedes, Lexus, Cadillacs, and Jaguars parked in front of $20,000 dilapidated fleapits that tend to collapse during heavy rain storms. The real unemployment rate in these garbage strewn, disintegrating neighborhoods exceeds 50%. The median household income is less than $20,000. Over 40% of the adult population hasn’t graduated high school and 63% of the population lives below the poverty level. These people put the “sub” in subprime. How can anyone in this American version of third world Baghdad afford to drive a $40,000 vehicle? The answer is they can’t. But you the taxpayer, out of the goodness of your heart and without your knowledge, have loaned them the money so they can cruise around West Philly in Jay Z or Kanye style.

Bernanke’s ZIRP creates the environment for mal-investment and reckless lending. With the Federal government owned Ally Financial leading the charge, the miraculous auto sales recovery is nothing but a bad loan driven illusion. With the Federal government pushing subprime loans like a West Philly drug dealer, the Too Big To Trust Wall Street cabal have followed suit providing financing to deadbeats with FICO scores of 500, no job, but a nice smile. When you can borrow from the Fed at 0% and loan money to SNAP nation at 18%, with a Bernanke unspoken promise to bail them out when the inevitable defaults come as a complete shock, this is why you see thousands of luxury automobiles parked in the urban kill zones across America.

Zero Hedge documented the new subprime bubble in a story earlier this week. As auto dealers allow losers with sub-500 FICO scores to drive off their lots with new cars, ZH summarized the next taxpayer bailout:

 “No Car, no FICO score, no problem. The NINJAs have once again taken over the subprime asylum.”

Someone with a 500 FICO score has defaulted on multiple debt obligations in the recent past. The issuance of hundreds of billions of subprime debt can give the appearance of economic growth for a short period of time, just like it did from 2004 through 2007. Then it all collapsed in a heap because the debt eventually must be repaid. Cash flow is required to service debt. Maybe the West Philly subprime Mercedes drivers can trade their SNAP cards for cash to make their car loan payments, since they don’t have jobs. Even the captured MSM is being forced to admit the truth.

While surging light-vehicle sales have been one of the bright spots in the U.S. economy, it’s increasingly being fueled by borrowers with imperfect credit. Such car buyers account for more than 27 percent of loans for new vehicles, the highest proportion since Experian Automotive started tracking the data in 2007. That compares with 25 percent last year and 18 percent in 2009, as lenders pulled back during the recession. Issuance of bonds linked to subprime auto loans soared to $17.2 billion this year, more than double the amount sold during the same period in 2010, according to Harris Trifon, a debt analyst at Deutsche Bank AG. The market for such debt, which peaked at about $20 billion in 2005, was dwarfed by the record $1.2 trillion in mortgage bonds sold that year.

When has packaging subprime loans, getting them rated AAA by a trustworthy ratings agency, and selling them to little old ladies and pension funds, ever caused a problem before? With subprime auto loan issuance accounting for 50% of all car loans and an average loan to value ratio of 114.5%, what could possibly go wrong? Think about that for one minute. The government and Wall Street banks are loaning deadbeats $33,000 of your money to buy a $30,000 car, despite the fact the high school dropout borrower doesn’t have a job and has a history of defaulting on their obligations.

Can you really blame the borrowers? For the second time in the last decade the rich folk have generously offered to let them experience the good life, with debt that is never expected to be repaid. The people in West Philly live in rat infested, rundown, leaky shacks waiting for the 1st of the month to get their EBT card recharged. They have nothing, so they have nothing to lose. When the MAN offered to loan them $300,000 in 2005 so they could buy their very own McMansion, what did they have to lose? They got to live in a fancy house for a few years until they were booted out by the bank and left in exactly the same spot they were before the MAN came along. These people don’t even know what a FICO score means.

Now the MAN has knocked on their hovel door again and offered to put them in a brand spanking new Cadillac Escalade with no money down, requiring no proof of employment, and no prospects of  repaying the loan. Hallelujah, there is a God!!!  They get to tool around West Philly for a year or two impressing their fellow SNAP recipients until the repo man shows up and absconds with their wheels. They will be left right where they were, hoofing it with their $200 Air Jordans. Anyone with an ounce of brains (eliminates Cramer & Bartiromo) can see this will end exactly as all easy money, Federal Reserve propagated, and government sanctioned scams end.

“Perhaps more than any other factor, easing credit has been the key to the U.S. auto recovery,” Adam Jonas, a New York-based analyst with Morgan Stanley, wrote in a note to investors last month. The rise of subprime lending back to record levels, the lengthening of loan terms and increasing credit losses are some of factors that lead Jonas to say there are “serious warning signs” for automaker’s ability to maintain pricing discipline.

In the last year 99% of all consumer debt issued was doled out by government drones, with no interest in getting repaid, to subprime deadbeats, with no interest in repaying. It’s a match made in subprime heaven with your tax dollars. As an Ivy League educated Wall Street banker CEO once said:

“When the music stops, in terms of liquidity, things will be complicated. But as  long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance. We’re still  dancing.”

Chuck “Doing the Boogie Woogie” Prince – FORMER CEO of Citicorp – July 2007

You see it is always about liquidity, also known as Bernanke Bucks or QEternity. Without Bernanke and his Federal Reserve sycophants printing $2.8 billion of new money every single day, shoveling it into the grubby hands of his Wall Street bank bosses and a corrupt fetid festering pustule of a government running trillion dollar deficits and showering your money on loafers and welfare queens, this subprime final solution would not be possible. This is an exact replay of the subprime mortgage debacle, except the oligarchs have cut out the middleman. Holding the American people hostage for the $700 billion TARP bailout proved to be messy, with 90% of Americans against the “Save a Corrupt Criminal Banker” scheme. This time, there will not be a vote in Congress when the hundreds of billions in subprime student loans and subprime auto loans go bad and become the responsibility of the few remaining American taxpayers. What’s another few hundred billion among friends when our annual deficits soar past $1 trillion, our national debt approaches $20 trillion, and our unfunded entitlement liabilities exceed $200 trillion?

When the music stopped in 2008, Chuck Prince bopped away with a $40 million severance package and you were left to sweep the confetti off the floors, pick up the empty champagne bottles and caviar plates, scrub the vomitorium, and pay for all the damages that occurred during the sordid subprime orgy of greed, lust, gluttony, envy and sloth. Somehow the distracted, techno-narcissistic, easily duped zombies have been lured into the subprime web of deceit again. We have only ourselves to blame as the corporate fascist oligarchs implement their final solution for the American middle class and our once proud nation – a bullet to the back of the head.

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63 Comments
sensetti
sensetti
November 10, 2013 12:17 pm

I just added another truck to the farm a 1994 4×4 chevy with a flat bed. Paid cash as my father taught me.
He said “Son if you buy a vehicle on credit you just bought a vehicle you can’t afford. Save your money, draw interest on it (what’s interest?) drive a hard bargain and pay cash. Then start saving again for the next one”
Damn he was a smart man
Thanks pop your advise has served me well, many times.

sensetti
sensetti
November 10, 2013 12:24 pm

Thanks Admin, excellent as always – some month if you take a notion do an update on the 30 blocks of hell.

Stucky
Stucky
November 10, 2013 1:24 pm

Sunday is supposed to be a fuckin day of rest! We should be reading God’s Word, not words that make me wanna off myself and actually go see God via the early bird special..

As far as imagining a society without credit cards it’s now approaching a decade since I had one, so it’s not hard to imagine … and it ain’t no BFD long as you don’t mind wearing shoes until holes appear. I will admit it’s hard to order porn online without a credit card.

Christmas is coming. More debt! Yeahhh!!! Merry Debtmas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMCyoG2-iAc&feature=player_detailpage

I got nuthin else.

Llpoh
Llpoh
November 10, 2013 1:38 pm

If you want a snapshot of things to come, have a gander at the Philippines. Looting and anarchy.

When the free shit stops flowing,coming to a street near you.

AWD
AWD
November 10, 2013 5:15 pm

Our entire economic system runs of credit (debt) creation. When that stops, everything implodes. Look at Japan, they’re up to their eyeballs in debt, half their tax receipts go to make interest payments on the debt, and they’ve been bankrupt for 30 years now, yet they keep on going, like the energizer bunny.

It makes me wonder how long our debt-fueled prosperity can continue. The Fed, especially with “dove” mega-money printer ‘Ol Yellen stepping in to grease the wheels, will continue to indebt this nation beyond any hope of ever returning to solvency. Can we make it 30 years? Run up $50 trillion in Federal debt? The Fed balance sheet up to $20 trillion. Keep signing people up for free shit, free healthcare, free everything? Will it ever end?

The sane people want the Fed to “taper”, slow down, put the brakes on, but that obviously isn’t going to happen. Not when the criminals in Washington are adding $450 billion a month to the deficit like last month. And they granted themselves an unlimited debt ceiling now.

The system crashed in 2008, but didn’t stay crashed. The banksters should have taken their losses and gotten real jobs. But no, taxpayers coughed up $750 billion to cover their gambling losses, and the Fed started printing money. The debts and “unfunded obligations” continue to pile up, and everyone knows it’s a scam, just like all the money handouts and free shit from the government, but nobody has the balls to do anything about it, especially the banksters and Wall Street. The markets are a joke, but they keep pumping it up with funny money.

As the Chinese continue to look askance at what our “leaders” are doing, and they realize the growing graft and incompetence, they could sink our ship in a heartbeat. But they probably won’t, because who would shop at Wal Mart if our nation is finally declared bankrupt, in fact and in reality. It already is, but, thank God for the Fed and money printing, right?

Debt is the money of slaves, and gold is the money of kings. No mention of bitcoins. I have some bitcoins, and they’ve appreciated in value more than any stock or investment I’ve ever owned. The sane people of this world will ditch the dollar and other fiat currencies, and use bitcoins. They’ll be the new reserve currency someday (or so I hope).

IndenturedServant
IndenturedServant
November 10, 2013 5:16 pm

“The real unemployment rate in these garbage strewn, disintegrating neighborhoods exceeds 50%.”

Can you really have an unemployment rate in the 30 blocks when the residents have no intention of working……..at all?

The “economy” has nothing to do with helping the peasants anymore. Debt equals growth to the assclowns closest to the spigot. And so it will continue. Until it can’t.

Time to start carrying a length of piano wire coiled up in your back pocket. You never know when opportunity will strike. Thanks for the article admin.
I_S

Billy
Billy
November 10, 2013 5:26 pm

sensetti

I think your dad and mine went to the same school.

We needed a farm truck. No way were we going to try and fund a new, or even slightly used, dually.

Saved a couple years and paid cash for a clean, not-messed-with 1973 Ford F250 Highboy 4×4. A survivor from California. Not a dually, but so what? Spent a couple thousand on engine work, wiring, suspension, exhaust, a bedliner and undercoating. No frills, but then it’s a farm truck, right? Paid a fraction for what a comparable vehicle would have cost new, and IMHO, it’s a better vehicle than what currently passes for a new truck these days.

It still needs some improvements and tweaks, so we’re still saving…

And FWIW, my wife makes sure our credit card balance is zero at the end of every month… bless her heart, she’s awesome.

Billy
Billy
November 10, 2013 5:32 pm

I_S

“Time to start carrying a length of piano wire coiled up in your back pocket.”

A garrote? Kind of old school, but effective. (“Hey, look over there.” Gaak!)

Why not a pistol or revolver? Genuinely curious- no set up, no ulterior motive… war’s over as far as I’m concerned.

Just never heard of anyone carrying a garrote outside of a active war zone… last one I saw was 3 thin wires braided together and wrapped around wooden toggles for handles…

IndenturedServant
IndenturedServant
November 10, 2013 5:59 pm

For most of my adult life, my wife and I had a bank credit card. Since we paid the balance off monthly, the banks would send us a letter cancelling our card because it cost them money to maintain our zero balance account. We switched to a credit union credit card and despite paying off the balance monthly, they never cancel our card. Our rule of thumb for credit card purchases is to never charge more than we have in cash savings at the time and pay it off in full each month. So far, so good.
I_S

backwardsevolution
backwardsevolution
November 10, 2013 6:03 pm

Admin – excellent, excellent article. Saw it over at Zero Hedge (which I seldom visit). I started reading, and I got a little way into the article before I said, “Damn, that’s good writing.” I then looked up to see who wrote it, and there it was – Jim Quinn.

Bought my first car with cash – a bunch of $100.00 bills in an envelope – because of good advice from my parents too. Reading the article reminded me of how I used to pay for everything with cash. Boy, times have sure changed, and not for the better.

Thanks, Admin.

AWD
AWD
November 10, 2013 6:59 pm

Got Bitcoins?

As Bitcoin Plunges 25% On Government Scrutiny, The First BTC “Fair Value” Reco Has A Stunning Price Target

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 11/10/2013 – 12:39

Let’s use a broad guesstimate. One Bitcoin should theoretically be worth 700 ounces of gold or pretty close to $1,000,000, if we adjust existing supply of both to equal eachother. One BTC is currently worth 0.14 ounces of gold. That gives BTC an upside of 5000 times to equal the current price of gold, supply adjusted. Clearly, I and everyone else believes that Gold may well be much higher than here in the next 5 to 10 years, thus versus the US Dollar the upside for BTC could be multiples of that. Now, before you shake your head, simply go back to the chart of Gold versus the US Dollar and just recognise that it has risen 8750% since the 1920s. And just remember that Microsoft rose 61,000% from its IPO to it’s peak. Considering what we know about the world, I personally believe that Bitcoin may well explode in value as more and more people begin to use it. If you stuck $5,000 into Bitcoins and each Bitcoin did go up to a gold equivalent of let’s say, only 100 ounces of gold (not the potential fair value of 700), then at current prices your Bitcoin stash would be worth $3.3m.

Hawkwood
Hawkwood
November 10, 2013 8:43 pm

@AWD

Yup, got bitcoins. Pretty happy about them too. That 25% plunge is already reversing course. Those ounces of gold and silver in the safe are having a harder time reversing course, however.

AWD
AWD
November 10, 2013 9:05 pm

Hawk

If ever “buy the fucking dip” is to be employed, it’s with bitcoins. Not sure there is a stock or other investment poised to increase 5000 times. Some believe, with the eventual collapse of fiat currencies globally, bitcoins could become the new reserve currency. Don’t sell ’em my man. Not sure where all the bitcoin haters are, they usually show up, frothing at the mouth.

Billy
Billy
November 10, 2013 9:06 pm

“Tradition Billy. Tradition. I call it tradition for several reasons, not the least of which is in honor of the reason why the FED holds gold.

It’s just in case you are fortunate enough to cross paths with one of our “owners” as they’re trying to “get while the gettin’s good”. Save guns and ammo for the FSA or RE’s of the world.

I_S”

I can respect that. Tradition goes a long ways…

Personally, I would go with a Randall Model 1, but each to his own… Randall’s are kind of hard to conceal for everyday wear, so I carry an Emerson along with Col. Colt. Used to carry a CQC6B I had him make back in 96, but it went missing a couple years ago. Switched up to an A-100.

Used to be into all the go-fast hi-speed shit, but the older I get, the more traditional my gear gets… either a Colt’s revolver in an old DeSantis crossdraw rig or a 1940’s-era Colt 1911A1 in a rig I got from El Paso Saddlery.

Just cause it’s old don’t mean it ain’t good shit…

AWD
AWD
November 10, 2013 9:48 pm

Forgot to mention, great article Admin.

The final solution 1940’s—kill the Jews

The final solution 2013—debt implosion, banksters

Bernake, Dimon and Blankfein are Jewish. Any relation? Revenge?

David A. Laibow
David A. Laibow
November 10, 2013 10:48 pm

Lipoh (above) has it wrong. The few incidents of criminality in Tacloban because of the typhoon are being dealt with by the Philippine Army and the Philippine National Police. Offenders will be dealt with by the justice system; some men will probably be executed by the firing squad.
In comparison to the United States, the Philippines is on track for an overall GDP growth rate of at least 8% for 2013 (my wife has relatives on the senior staff of the central bank whose opinion is that the 2013 final rate may exceed 9%, with 9% almost certain (and 10% probable) for 2014. Investment capital is flooding into Asia generally in increasing amounts from North America and Western Europe, and the Philippines is getting its share.
The Philippine government and the leaders of its two major political parties are much further to the right than the major American political parties, and much more fiscally conservative. For example, the government is systematically paying down the amount of soverign debt that can be held by non-Phlippine citizens, and there are rigid limits on the amount of government debt that can be issued, in relation to total GDP. Borrowing from institutions such as IMF, the World Bank, is done on an extremely limited, single-project basis.
There’s no “welfare” in the American sense; if you’rfe an able-bodied person and destitute, you’ll be provided with the minimal asset assistance to earn a living, or encouraged to turn to microfinance to start a one-person business. But there’s no ongoing “welfaee” assistance from government at any level. If you can’t afford a car, travel on a bicycle; if you can’t afford a bicycle, then walk.
An illusion of economic activity must be maintained in the United States, and in a continually declining economy, easily obtained credit to the lower classes is indispensable. If those in control of the American economy don’t maintain the illusion, the collapse of the economic, social, and governmental system accelerates.
I suspect that what you’re seeing around you now is going to become enormously worse for “ordinary” people. That’s why I provide free, no-obligation information about relocation to Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and the Philippines. If you’d like to learn more, contact me, David Laibow, at “caballafamily[at]yahoo.com. Asia is not the new “land of milk and honey”, but the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well here. The death of the entrepreneurial spirit and the rise of socialism and collectivism in the United States is ineveitable — personally, I’ve been expecting it since Bill Clinton was elected President, so I’m not surprised by what I see taking place. World civilization is evolving, and that process includes the end of the American Empire, and the inevitable drop in living standards for millions of Americans — that living standard has been based on cheap energy and cheap money, and couldn’t last forever.

Anonymous
Anonymous
November 11, 2013 12:13 am

David A. Laibow: a quick news search found this little tidbit:

“People are becoming violent. They are looting business establishments, the malls, just to find food, rice and milk…. I am afraid that in one week, people will be killing from hunger.”

President Benigno Aquino said while visiting Tacloban on Sunday that looting had become a major concern, after only 20 officers out of the city’s 390-strong police force turned up for work.”
“So we will send about 300 police and soldiers to take their place and bring back peace and order,” he said.

It does not support your contention that the looters are being dealt with. The president says that peace and order are not in place. That said, I have no doubt that the military/police of the Philippines will deal with the issue rather harshly. As is their wont.

LLPOH
LLPOH
November 11, 2013 12:30 am

That was me above.

LLPOH
LLPOH
November 11, 2013 12:32 am

Hey, cool – I kinda like that avatar! Looks a bit like a grumpy ass alien. Suits me, don’t you think?

mabuk
mabuk
November 11, 2013 1:40 am

@David Laibow — I agree with your final point that the US is in decline along with other Western powers, but to ignore the correlation and codependency of those emerging economies with those declining powers is pretty disingenuous. There is no Philippines miracle absent the FDI pouring in, and only when you shower those governments with firehoses filled cash do they appear temporarily cleansed of their historic corruption. Philippines was a shithole ten years ago, it is still a shithole, and it will continue to be shithole 10 years from now — it will just be a poorer shithole when the USA goes down and those foreign investors and emigrant remittances dry up. That said, if someone is retiring and unattached, then there are worse ways to die than drinking several San Mig Lights nightly in Angeles City in the company of some LBFM.

marissa
marissa
November 11, 2013 4:03 am

Admin, I thought this article was extremely good. One of your best efforts.

The final photo was an unfortunate choice. Although I can see why you thought it would be fitting and appropriate for the message, it really reduced the impact of the writing and left a bad taste that the posted article cannot overcome.

Your message was overwhelmed by that image.

flash
flash
November 11, 2013 7:29 am

Excellent essay admin.

Apparently credit is set to outstrip fiat as the go to currency of choice.

flash
flash
November 11, 2013 7:41 am

So this thing with bitcoins.How does one protect these assets in the catastrophic event of grid failure, internet kill switch,security freeze or just plain old government declaring the bit coinage illegal?

Post TEOTWAWKI , would any really trade a loaf of bread for some data stream on a hand held?

Sensetti
Sensetti
November 11, 2013 7:42 am

Marisa replace above photo that you dislike with this one.

[imgcomment image[/img]

TeresaE
TeresaE
November 11, 2013 9:58 am

@Admin, the article you just added (could be its own post), was written by a bankster-blower. How “dangerous” it is, how the poor lenders and buyers – without the implied benevolent helping gubment drone regulation – is at grave and serious risk. CONgress will be on it shortly and totally outlaw the practice of private loans. They are dangerous to the banksters control of choosing winners (1%’ers, gubment drones, welfare/disability/cash biz deadbeats) and losers (private citizens attempting to help other private citizens while supporting their families – the fucking terrorists!). No way us plebes can be trusted with our own finances, no freaking way, we need protection and security of a big bankster. Truly, completely, undoubtedly, sucks, that this false flag story line (which comes about every few years) will lead the lawmakers to take it away this rare opportunity for the free market. At least if history is to be my guide I believe it will happen.

Anyway, outstanding article. Your descriptions of the world I see is vivid and compelling – as is the last picture – and I appreciate deeply your efforts to educate your readers.

What truly sucks is that when I read of the horrors we can see, I then realize that it is even worse than the picture you paint. Most have forgotten, or never knew it happened, but a couple years back the FDIC decided that they are not in place to protect American savers, but to save banks. The fucks have put banksters’ DERIVATIVES ahead of our savings and other “assets” held at banks in the FDIC/gubment insurance Ponzi.

Let that sink in people. The amount of derivatives held by US and Foreign-in-the-US banks DWARFS the economy, and thus dwarfs ANY ability of the FDIC to COVER IT!

Many, many, many trillions are held in derivatives on these bastards’ balance sheets. I haven’t seen an article (used to find at zerohedge, and the Daily Bell too) in a long time but I have to imagine that the banksters didn’t wake up and decide to undo trillions of dollars worth of these bad insurance bets without someone noticing.

We, the workers, the small biz guys, will have all our accounts stripped to fund this giant wealth transferring plan. The rules are in place, all it will take is some “black flag” (like food riots when China decides to keep the food our production-building dollars have paid for instead of selling it to us on the cheap), or failed-bond auctions, or outright war, whatever, it truly doesn’t matter.

Just as the rules for separating us from our guns and remaining freedoms are already in place.

We, the suckers who paid our debts, went to school, went to work and saved our cash, instead of spending it on hookers and blow and Gucci bags, will continue to pay the most. Just as we do now. Except it looks – more and more – like we will be paying with everything we have.

I am so proud of all you that live within your means, I wish it were 100% possible for me to, but as of right now, it isn’t. Though I could cash out a couple investments and pay it off today if I needed/wanted to. So I’m not as bad off as many. And we own three 7+ year old, paid off, vehicles (one for shop). I look at my machinist, with a $1000 a month car debt/ins, and I shake my head. She spends nearly a third of her GROSS to drive a flashy car – while living in the hood!

Having said that, I wonder things, I wonder things like when the shit hits the fan, how would it even be possible for Sears or American Express or Ally freaking bank, to collect their money? The little debt I hold, I hold in the hopes that chickens finally come home to roost and the bastards can confiscate my gubment-emptied savings account. Then they can kiss my ass, cause my – and many of my fellow ‘murkins – days of putting money in bank accounts would be over.

So those that hold debt would have one little feel-good, final, fuck you, to the establishment. Small consolation, but with the end of life as we know it, I’ll take it.

thanks admin.

ursel doran
ursel doran
November 11, 2013 12:41 pm

Sir,
A continuation of your brillant work connecting the dots. Is all this just an accident?
I submit there is a real possibility that the current cabal running the show may well be following the old Cloward – Piven model of collapsing the country from the inside. Here is a review of interest.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/09/barack_obama_and_the_strategy.html

The mega event of the stock market down draft of 40 – 50%, per Hussman’s latest will be a key pivot event for mmega changes.

murphy
murphy
November 11, 2013 1:06 pm

C’mon Admin there are plenty of guys in Philly that can afford those rides who work. Just like these guys in Cleveland.

Inside the Biggest Heroin Bust in Northeast Ohio History
The documentary film crew, the Southern pipeline, and the brazen Cleveland kingpins

Most people in the Cleveland hip-hop scene and the East 117th neighborhood know 37-year-old Maceo Moore better as “Chase.”

Moore’s a high-profile rapper and an even more high-profile gangster who ran the streets of East 117th and St. Clair flaunting his wealth with predictable bravado and recklessness, bragging about his disposable income, luxury cars, drug dealing prowess and power in the streets on social media and online.

That intersection shows up prominently in most of his videos and his exploits in lyrics.

http://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/inside-how-the-fbi-orchestrated-the-largest-heroin-bust-in-northeast-ohio-history/Content?oid=3679258

Reverse Engineer
Reverse Engineer
November 11, 2013 7:16 pm

The way the system works, the ONLY way to get money into the economy is to loan it out. SOMEBODY has Borrow it into existence, either individuals, corporations or da Goobermint. No borrowing you get deflation, economy collapses. They are ALL subprime, all are in debt past the ability to repay it. FAR more money is being loaned out at the Discount Window of Da Fed to the TBTF banks to gamble with then is being loaned to Squalorites to buy BMWs, by Orders of Magnitude. That is fucking Chump Change. JPMC borrows more money in an hour than the whole 30 Blocks of Squalor borrows in a decade. You think JPMC is more credit worthy than Homeboy out there? Homeboy is $50K in debt, JPMC is $50B in debt. If you are gonna keep loaning money at ZIRP to JPMC, WTF should they stop loaning money to Homeboy? That seems very unfair to me.

Over in Eurotrashland, Super Mario Draghi is so desperate to push out new loans from the ECB he cut the Discount Rate to .25%, and indicated he will go NEGATIVE if necessary here, aka he will PAY borrowers to take his funny money!

Anyhow, BMW and Mercedes gotta move those carz off the lot or they go outta biz. Make some more loans, they stay in biz another day. It works until it doesn’t.

RE

et in terra
et in terra
November 12, 2013 8:29 pm

Your article is so realistic, very much enjoyed.

The next time when kings and princes ask about money to people, I’ll ask which nation are you talking about.

Thank you for your letter.

Dr. P
Dr. P
November 13, 2013 2:31 am

“The chart below from Zero Hedge reveals what has happened since the oligarchs crashed the financial system with their vampire squid blood sucking tentacles syphoning the lifeblood from the American middle class.”

I’m busting this myth right now. Vampire squids don’t suck blood. They don’t even eat live prey. They eat organic debris that fall to the bottom of the ocean. If you see one in real life they run away and hide in their thick cloak like webbing.

Be Prepared
Be Prepared
November 13, 2013 8:26 am

I drive the same Philly streets as the Admin and the peeps are four generations indoctrinated into a system that keeps them at the teats of government. When having babies with multiple semen donors for the purpose of getting another paycheck is the norm, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that “free” money in whatever form is going to be voraciously consumed by the free army. The system has been well orchestrated and layered with a continual tide of changing and ever infringing laws and regulations over the last 100 years to achieve just this desired result. We know, though, that this is not the “final” result. Whether planned or by great hubris, we, the People, have allowed the monster to destroy true capital creation or certainly access to it by many and the society we have is progressively sinking back into a primordial stew of totalitarianism.

By agreeing to fuel our society with “debt” money rather than “sound” money, we are reaping what we have sown. This cycle has repeated itself throughout history and it shouldn’t surprised us that we are in the middle of it now. It’s hard to reconcile the reality we see with the truth that we were born into servitude. How can true freedom and a democratic republic exist when every dollar requires more work than it represents? We all know that it can’t. Our bonds and tethers have been light enough and obfuscated so that we have lived most of lives under the belief that our Constitutional tenets were real…. but now the fabric of that lie is more evident and has stirred a few of us awake to see the truth of our matrix.

This “game” which we play is our lives and we have been given little access to change the rules because the few gain much at the expense of the many regardless ….. they win and we lose….always. The downside of the student loan “gig” is that the financial “jail keepers” have made the rules such that you never get to expunge that debt in bankruptcy. They will extract their pound of flesh for your entire life if that’s what it takes. In changing those rules, they can loan with abandon and the numbers and charts indicate they have done exactly that for every basket weaving degree. What will kick all these newly minted liberal toads in the ass is the newly forged chain that goes along with that worthless degree. We are heading into a new phase and setting the stage for a new Chancery debtor’s prison.

As much as I want to see most of the bankers and house and senate in jail, I know that this won’t happen. I vote because I don’t want to throw the towel in completely, but I am not sure the power is on for my electronic vote which can now be easily manipulated to be replaced with the desired vote. I must endure wave after wave of Orwellian drones, TSA gropes, forced Obummercare and know that they can ride this horse longer and further than my ability to keep sane.

JOSHIN
JOSHIN
November 13, 2013 4:03 pm

[img]file://Users/ganesha/Desktop[/img]

David A. Laibow
David A. Laibow
November 14, 2013 1:07 am

There are isolated places in the Philippines that can be described as “shitholes”, granted; but many places are nicer. When a country has 7100-plus separate islands, and almost 100 million people (85% Roman Catholic/99% Asian), you’ll have that wide a range. The important point is that the country as a whole has an upward income and GDP growth trend. A person who’s willing to work to rise in the world will find that the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well here.

Investment capital is flooding into Asia generally from North America and Western Europe, and the Philippines is getting its share, most of which stays here in infrastructure investment and manufacturing, as opposed to deposits in savings banks.

My wife is Filipina, and when we married in the US in 2008, we decided to come here to visit, and I liked it so much I decided not to go back to the US. If she were Thai, we’d be living in the suburbs of Bangkok, and if she was Martian we’d probably be living in the suburbs of Marsport (being a country boy at heart, I’d prefer living out on the dark side somewhere).

Just as economic opportunity began moving westward across the Arlantic from Europe at the beginnng of the 16th century, it’s movig across the Pacific from North America and Western Europe, as capital seeks safety and higher returns. A majority of the American people have chosen a path that will lead them to “star-spangled fascism”; Asia is a refuge for the more conservative, severer virtues.

One example: Philippine “external” sovereign debt is being systematically paid down, and “internal” sovereign debt is available only to Philippine citizens (my wife can invest in it, but I can’t); eventually, the Philippine governjment will rely exclusively on Philippiine citizens for its revenue from bond sales.

Since there’s an article above about subprime mortgage investment, let me briefly review how the Philippine mortgage market works. First, only Philippine citizens can purchase land (foreigners such as myself can lease, rent or inherit from a deceased Philippine citizen). Mortgage lenders use standards comparable to American savings banks in the 1970s. There is a government-sponsored mutual fund to which all employees and employers are required to contribute, similar in function to Fannie Mae; however, ALL home mortgages issued from ANY source must be paid off in full on or before the 65th birthday of the youngest Phlippine citizen mortgagee. And since the mutual fund is part of the national government, default can lead (in extreme cases) to jail.

I spent my elementary school years living within walking distance of the Philadelphia waterfront (in a slum tenement; West Philadelphia was then a paradise too wonderful for us to aspire to), so I’m familiar with “shitholes”. The Phlippines has its shitholes, and it has its locations where the security guards wouldn’t let YOU across the threshold because you’re not rich enough.

For people who are sufficiently serious about relocation to Australia, New Zealand, Thailand or the Philippines, in serious search of a better life, and not just blowing hot air out of their orifice of choice on the interrnet, I invite you to contact me, David A. Laibow of Caballa Relocation Services, at “caballafamily[at]yahoo.com” I offer free, no-obligation information.

In my humble opinion, the global economy (including Asia) is in a state of long-term decline until the 2050-60 decade, with more and more investment capital coming into Asia from the rest of the world. I suspect there’ll be a return to a very limited prosperity in some parts of North America by the 2100s, As a father and grandfather, my primary concern is in helping my grown sons and daughters build a prosperous future for their children and grandchildren, preferably here in the Philippines. If you’re a serious person with faith in your own abilities, I’ll be glad to hear from you. Thank you, David Laibow

Ole Guy
Ole Guy
November 15, 2013 11:19 am

Many commenters here comment daily about starving the beast. Honestly if you want to starve the beast, cut up all credit cards except the one with lowest interest and no payoff penalty. Then you start paying cash for things you need. Throw out the want list and forget about it.

I was born and an adult when credit cards started. Credit cards did not come easily and you have to have a solid financial background and earnings to garner one. For a while I like many played the debt game. I awoke in 1985 and paid them all off and I am debt free with the exception of property taxes and utilities on my home.

Greed and envy of our neighbors or friends got us to where we are and that is being a debt slave. I recently bought a new truck and paid cash for it. Why? because I SAVED FOR IT. You can do it as well. I am not rich, I just refuse to buy on credit unless I absolutely have too and that is usually done while traveling. A lot easier to fill your vehicle with a credit card then paying in cash.

My wife and I live modestly and do not care what others think of us. We saved for 13 years to buy this one. You just have to take care of what you own and an item will take care of you. My children did not have a vehicle to drive to school! Why? Because they can take a darn bus that I am already paying for. Because they lie me needed to learn the value of our labor. All you have is your skills, family, God and labor to provide for your family. Use them.

The only way you can stop all of this is to wake up stop the nonsense with credit and get out of being a debt slave to your masters. This is the only way. If you want to buy something and can afford it make you eliminate all items on your needs list first! Then go out and buy a want. My advice is to buy assets that are tangible and are investments if you want something. Land, metals, anything you can actually hold that can be used in exchange for labor.

I suggest your first need is to get out of debt and then buy a couple of firearms to defend what you have to be honest. I suggest you barter some of your labor with others as well and no FRN’s exchange hands. You will be amazed at what you can do!

In closing sitting on your ass complaining about your situation will not change anything. Only you can change your situation in life. The government and banks could give a rats ass about you. Oh I forgot election time they promise to give you more of nothing thinking you will vote for them. What a joke.

Skinny
Skinny
November 16, 2013 10:22 am

In mentioning the beneficiaries you forgot to mention the storage companies. All the useless crap has to go somewhere. This of course leads to an indirect beneficiary, the storage locker bidder which ultimately leads to the reality show which is sponsored by Capital One, “What’s in your wallet.” All in all it’s pretty clever. A word to the wise, it is not all glamour in those storage boxes. The box I “won” had 30 sets of false teeth, a unicycle that was originally a bicycle, and a 1937 Readers Digest with the lead story, “Hitler, the Fuehrer’s Fuehrer.”

You also kill the for profit education racket but you have to include the so called not for profit racket such as you beloved University of Pennsylvania who sell the dream of higher education only to produce Lesbian Studies Majors who sole contribution to society will constitute submitting posts to the “Burning Platform.” At some point this will all end. What comes after that is anybody’s guess but I’m beginning to see the wisdom of the doomsday preppers. As for me, I’ll just move into storage unit and while away the hours learning to ride a unicycle.

Skinny
Skinny
November 16, 2013 12:55 pm

Will they let me teach Intro to Lesbian Wall Street Pillagers? I think I could a bang up job.

Billy
Billy
November 16, 2013 2:15 pm

Dudes… have you all SEEN most dykes?

Barrel assed, butch haircut, lots of tats, enough metal in their face to make a good sized handgun, man-hating, usually pushing about 300 lbs or so… the ones you see while pr0n surfing on the Internetz are like 1/100th of 1% of dykes..

Skinny
Skinny
November 16, 2013 6:16 pm

The better to be a Wall Street Pillager. The soft core porno types will never cut it. we need the real thing.

KB
KB
November 16, 2013 11:26 pm

Discharging student loans in bankruptcy, recent successful examples:

1. Michael Eric HEDLUND v. The Educational Resources Institute Inc. et al., case number 12-35258, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (May 22, 2013);

2. In re Robert Jacob SCOTT and Sarah Jane Scott, Debtors. Robert Jacob Scott and Sarah Jane Scott, Plaintiffs v. U.S. Department of Education; Educap, Inc., The Education Resources Institute (TERI), et. al, Defendants. Bankruptcy No. 07-14317. Adversary No. 07-01367. United States Bankruptcy Court, W.D. Washington, at Seattle. September 25, 2009;

3. Christian D. MENDOZA, Chapter 7, Debtor. Christian D. Mendoza, Plaintiff, Educational Credit Management Corporation; Hemar Insurance Corporation of America, Defendants. Case No.-01-53238-MM. Adversary No. 01-5283. United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. California. June 20, 2007;

4. In re Lorna Kaye NYS, Debtor, Educational Credit Management Corporation, Appellant, v. Lorna Kaye Nys, Appellee. No. 04-16007. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted February 15, 2006. Filed April 26, 2006. 446 F.3d 938; and

5. Krieger v. Educ. Credit Mgmt. Corp., No. 12-3592 (7th Cir. Apr. 10, 2013).

The Hedlund case in 2013 and Scott case in 2009 are significant. These two cases clearly expand the law in favor of student loan debtors who reside in the nine western states. Both Hedlund and Scott were in their 30s, healthy, well educated and employed, and they successfully discharged most of their student loan debt in bankruptcy.

This is a trend that the mainstream media has not picked up on.

Also, see the excellent law review article by Jason Iuliano, Ph.D., “An Empirical Assessment of Student Loan Discharges…”, American Bankruptcy Law Journal, September 2012. He makes the case that millions of debtors could successfully discharge their student loan debt if they merely tried.

Finally, the excellent book Bankrupt Your Student Loans and Other Discharge Strategies, 3rd Edition (2009), by Chuck Stewart, Ph.D., publisher Stewart Education Services. This book makes the case that the Department of Education will significantly reduce a debtor’s student loan debt, in an out of court settlement, if the matter is brought to bankruptcy court. Dr. Stewart’s own case can be found at California Central Bankruptcy Court case LA04-19681ER, filed August 2004.

ursel doran
ursel doran
November 19, 2013 11:51 am

Check the simple math on repos here that jsut popped up. The trend is clear.
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/as-the-car-industry-recovers–the-repo-man-does-too-211954746.html