[Umber]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('davep', 'C')lassy shotgun? It's a second-hand Turkish huglu... The photo was for a tinfoil hat competition in a UK newspaper (yes, I won).

As for well to do, I managed to buy the place in 2007 for 100k euros after selling up in the UK in 2006 (I started with a 105% mortgage in the UK, it was pure luck that I sold at the top of the market - the place I bought was just over a quarter of the selling price in the UK). ... I've since been travelling over 1000km every weekend by car for over three years between home and work just to get the work done on the place to make it habitable.
So kindly keep your ignorant comments to yourself, thanks.

[AgentR11]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'S')imply because most 21st Century Rich Worlders have had the luxury of ignoring government doesn't mean we're immune to government oppression or government complicity in de facto control by the 1%. I don't know if irreversible energy decline begins next week or next decade but our current course of willfully transferring wealth and power upwards - to punish the Moochers - is creating a plutocracy that will be the downfall of democracy.

[Pops]

Agent you analyzed it better it 10 minutes than I have in ten years.

[AgentR11]

Addenda - Pop's chart shows a household breakpoint at the 85% mark, not 75% mark; while I'm inferring from other sources difference in what is happening in the 75%-85% bracket; basically a reset of some silliness we did with the dotcom bubble and housing bubble; their income is lower on average, but likely includes more than a few that briefly priced themselves out of the market while confusing revenue with profit. Which is why I think that top 1%'s social system reaches down to a full 25%. Could also include a good chunk of youngsters just starting out as well, an entry level trader might make $50K, but he is most certainly not spending most of his social time associating with people in 50% bracket.

Anyway, that's my reasoning on why I think the benchmark goes all the way down to the 75% mark. Should have included this comment with the above, but there was already a post following it...

[peeker01]

Class warfare will not solve the problems we are experiencing. Only highly motivated and well-
financed Americans will pull us out of this tailspin. Poor people do not create jobs.

[AgentR11]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('peeker01', 'C')lass warfare will not solve the problems we are experiencing. Only highly motivated and well-
financed Americans will pull us out of this tailspin. Poor people do not create jobs.

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('peeker01', 'C')lass warfare will not solve the problems we are experiencing. Only highly motivated and well-
financed Americans will pull us out of this tailspin. Poor people do not create jobs.

[DomusAlbion]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Umber to DaveP', '
')
Peak oil? And you burn how much of it driving 1000km each weekend for three years?
Drove 156000km so you could maintain your lifestyle. Yes, yes, I see.

Not that I want to jump to conclusions, but it appears that you might have broken up the garden with that petroleum fed "horse" behind you in the photo. The lawn was cut with what?? A scythe? Goats? Or maybe a petroleum guzzling, noxious fume spewing mower? And the wood pile in back... cut with a buck saw or one of those snarling, PETROLEUM fired chain saws?

I can see that you're VERY worried about peak oil. I am impressed. You seem to be ready for the coming hard times.

[Pretorian]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('joewp', 'I') didn't read the whole thread, but somehow I get the feeling that the biggest mooch class is being overlooked here. I mean that class that has managed to corrupt the government so completely that they get the privilege of "loaning" money they don't have at interest, effectively creating it from thin air and expecting the other classes to labor long hours to pay back their fake money PLUS interest. They're the biggest leaches on society, sucking at the teats of government, business and labor and contributing nothing of value. They have managed to institute their ponzi scheme world-wide, and suck the life out of every known enterprise.

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Nefarious', 'W')hen we start paying off the debt we are destroying money causing deflation.

[joewp]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pretorian', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('joewp', 'I') didn't read the whole thread, but somehow I get the feeling that the biggest mooch class is being overlooked here. I mean that class that has managed to corrupt the government so completely that they get the privilege of "loaning" money they don't have at interest, effectively creating it from thin air and expecting the other classes to labor long hours to pay back their fake money PLUS interest. They're the biggest leaches on society, sucking at the teats of government, business and labor and contributing nothing of value. They have managed to institute their ponzi scheme world-wide, and suck the life out of every known enterprise.

[Pops]

There was no way that we could have avoided globalization, Six. Labor arbitrage has been going on since the Romans brought home slaves to mop the senate floor for democracy. Containerization, computers and cheap oil made the world market inevitable.

Where we made the mistake was being greedy and letting the capitalistas convince us that allowing them to keep more of the fruits of our labor would benefit us.

Now they have walled compounds and we have Detroit.

[SeaGypsy]

That get my vote for post of the month. Cheers Pops.

[Pops]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'T')hat get my vote for post of the month. Cheers Pops.

[gollum]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pretorian', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('joewp', 'I') didn't read the whole thread, but somehow I get the feeling that the biggest mooch class is being overlooked here. I mean that class that has managed to corrupt the government so completely that they get the privilege of "loaning" money they don't have at interest, effectively creating it from thin air and expecting the other classes to labor long hours to pay back their fake money PLUS interest. They're the biggest leaches on society, sucking at the teats of government, business and labor and contributing nothing of value. They have managed to institute their ponzi scheme world-wide, and suck the life out of every known enterprise.

[gollum]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', 'T')he world is not Finland. If you think they have a superior system, then you are wasting valuable time living here. Progressives just can't understand that Peak Oil ends this experiment in cradle to grave socialism. Think local not national and you will have a clue to where this is headed. We don't do our countrymen any favors by kicking the can down the road yet again.

Accept the pain of a smaller government now, in stages, and make the adjustments or get ready to lose all your social programs down the road in a economic crash. Hey if that is the solution you guys want, don't say you haven't been warned by the Libertarians of where this is headed.

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'W')here we made the mistake was being greedy and letting the capitalistas convince us that allowing them to keep more of the fruits of our labor would benefit us.

Now they have walled compounds and we have Detroit.

[Pops]

Yea, he actually bought an hour (half hour?) of TV time to present his charts, I can hear his squeak voice say NEOW! as he flipped to the next card. I still imitate that voice!

I remember the uncomfortable feeling that he was making a good case, uncomfortable because I was much more partisan in those days and couldn't believe Clinton would actually throw American workers under the bus, which of course he did. I've since come to believe the dems are just a mashup of special interest groups with no spine for anything except funding for all the groups. My opinion of the pubs of course hasn't changed.

Anyway, by the '90s union scale was already totally uncompetitive and zombie pensions were eating the corps so the only real option to keep the economy alive was to transition from the world's factory floor to it's back office and hire temps. If we'd gone protectionist with Perot we'd have gone broke sooner, don't forget we need to import oil so we gotta export something. At least this way we get to wash the windows on the the multinational's home offices and mow the CEOs' lawns and they pay us with Yen and Euros.


Labor arbitrage is baked into the capitalist cake Six, creative destruction to undercut the competition is Job One. I don't know what the next move is but them's the ground rules. Anyone who thinks different is gonna be disappointed.

[Outcast_Searcher]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'T')here was no way that we could have avoided globalization, Six. Labor arbitrage has been going on since the Romans brought home slaves to mop the senate floor for democracy. Containerization, computers and cheap oil made the world market inevitable.

Where we made the mistake was being greedy and letting the capitalistas convince us that allowing them to keep more of the fruits of our labor would benefit us.

Now they have walled compounds and we have Detroit.

[AgentR11]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'L')abor arbitrage is baked into the capitalist cake Six, creative destruction to undercut the competition is Job One. I don't know what the next move is but them's the ground rules. Anyone who thinks different is gonna be disappointed.