How To Resuscitate The Middle Class

middle class 60s
The 1960s were the decade in which my parents grew up. Their parents were the so-called, Greatest Generation and I, for one, think that term is appropriate, given that childhood was the Great Depression and their early adulthood has been the fight against Second World War, a series of experiments almost beyond my hands. Generation X’s parents grew up in an era of increased military-industrial complex, in which people could reasonably expect to obtain gainful employment and remain at it throughout their lives.

This means several things:

One, the American education was the envy of the world. You simply could not get a better education than that provided by a U.S. institution. Colleges were not crowded even when only a small minority went to college, so if you were to post-secondary education in the United States, you were set.

Now, when the US is compared with other countries like Korea and Europe, the US education system is the laughing stock of the world. Indeed, children in Korea spend, on average, about 10 hours per day in school and in after school classes.

Second, real worker compensation had never been higher. No matter what you did in life, you could find a factory job that you pay a salary high enough that you can do whatever. In the 1960s and 1970s, this was especially true when many low-skill positions were prevalent throughout the economy, but are now sent to slave labor countries or staffed by immigrant workers who will “do work that Americans won’t do.” Now, average wages have been declining on a steady pace. Compared to many western world countries, average wages in the United States lags far behind many.

The average salary of U.S. $ 33,195 only compares very poorly against the average wages of Germany at $ 50,445, $ 46,541 in the United Kingdom, France $ 45,879, $ 45,839 in Japan and even $ 38,259 in Ireland, once thought to be one of the poorest nations due to the old economy destroyed by the famine of the potato. Indeed, as the world economy becomes increasingly “globalized,” foreign countries take advantage of cheap labor to build their U.S. products. Americans are becoming low wages “Chinese” work for the rich States such as Germany and Japan to build their products.

Third, although the Soviet threat was real, it was removed. Although the Cold War was terrifying in its own way, it never evolved into a struggle against war and there has never been any kind of direct attack on American soil. The Vietnam War was underway, but it is literally across the globe, and was largely out of the eye of the media, or much more controlled than today’s world of blogs and instant communication.

Four, the art of marketing and consumption has been in its heyday. Look at the sophistication of advertising in the 1960s and compare now. There were a few small evolutionary steps, of course, but the psychological advantage of today blows away marketing quite what you find in those days.

Five, house prices in real dollars was extremely low compared to today. The price of a house since 1960, has increased at a much faster rate than inflation, a bull that is perhaps finally being run slowed or reversed, after many years of incredible growth. Thus, someone who bought a house in 1960, fell into a motley investment.

Six. Employers have taken long-term care of their employees. If a person has worked in a factory for thirty years, the company guaranteed them a pension that would enable them to live the rest of their lives in a comfortable fashion. If you took care of the business, he took care of you.

Under these assumptions, my parents could buy a house (rather cheap) when they were younger than I am now just on the wages earned by one of them working a seasonal job at the factory (which paid very well). Because of this factory work, they now receive a nice retirement after never put anything in their own retirement plan.

Does this seem like modern Western World economic reality? It certainly seems there is nothing like it was. Most realities is more like this:

Most job treat you as an independent contractor instead of a true team member, which means that you must save for my own retirement rather than a pension plan. Also, there are houses that are extremely expensive, even in relatively cheap, the area where most live (in cities). There is no “fall back” plan in the form of abundant low skill labor that anyone can do. The decline in jobs that most know only offer to make minimum wage, which is much less than a real living wage in the United States.

Most parents regularly offer “advice” on how to manage finances on the basis of theire assumptions that their childhood and early adult life. Their suggestions are that you should buy a house when you are married and young and purchase all sorts of leisure products. Indeed, their hearts are definitely in the right place, and they talk about things they believe to be true, but they are not true for the aftermath generation – if we took their advice, most would be in the poor house.

So what is the solution? If you have any advice given by your parents – or anyone at all (including most people) – the untold suggestions would be to examine the assumptions they believed in concerning what their experiences brought them. Indeed, this generation certianly will not have the same experiences.

What Is The Solution To The Growing Trade Imbalances Threatening Your Livelihood?

Warren Buffett’s plan proposes creating a market for import certificates that would represent the right to import a certain dollar amount of goods into the United States from other countries. These certificates would be issued to US exporters in an amount equal to the dollar amount of the goods they export, and can be sold to importers, who must purchase them in order to legally import goods. The price of an import certificate is set by free-market forces, and therefore ultimately is dependent on the balance between imported and exported goods through supply and demand.

What are some Immediate Solutions and Strategies to Safeguard Your Money Now?

Some of the best advice for those seeking to safeguard their existing assets would be to invest in safe, durable, long-term, moderate return investments, but do not visit a so called financial advisor. Many of these ‘advisors’ are nothing but petty salesmen who have little or no experience in the real world. Having been a victim of the financial investment firm Edward Jones, many people have chosen their own investment strategies by researching these topics themselves, or seeking the help of on-line investment houses.

Companies are charging hundreds and even thousands for access to 2-3 hours’ worth of mediocre education from their own experts. If anyone has actually paid for the education, they quickly realize that in order to continue and get the “expanded education” they need to continue to spend! It’s all a vicious cycle to separate you from your hard earned pay checks without actually providing you with worthwhile material.

There is only one place where you have access to over 150 experts and 500 hours of seminars, for one price and that’s INO TV. INO TV gives its 30,000 members access to massive amounts of educational material that has been handpicked to provide you with the most for the least. If you’ve been duped in the past, here is your way to get back at those companies… learn something and stretch your pay check!


Visit the education page of INO TV to learn more.

Full access to INO TV will not cost you thousands, and won’t cost you hundreds. Yes, access to the world’s top experts, streaming on demand, and new authors being added monthly, will not cost you a month’s salary.

It’s important that you continue to design your trading methods that fit your lifestyle (not your parent’s), and with INO TV you can do that with access to hundreds of experts who have done it before and want to show you their strategies.

1 Comment

  1. I Lost Thirty Pounds in Thirty Days says:

    Cool Post, Thanks.

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