road to serfdom

Welcome to the Recovery – Poultry Workers Claim They’re Denied Bathroom Breaks and Wear Diapers on the Job

by

Screen Shot 2016-05-05 at 10.20.07 AM

More than any other group, the 1% has been convinced that the stock market represents some sort of leading indicator of wealth and prosperity.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Sure, the stock market can function as such an indicator.  It is such an indicator when the rising stock market reflects a dynamic, capitalist economy where new industries and companies are rising to the top and improving standards of living for the populace.  It represents the opposite indicator when it merely reflects the ownership interests of the oligarchs in a crony-capitalist, fascist economy that is picking away at the dying carcass of what little economic freedom still remains.  This is what a rising stock market actually represents today.  When people look at it they should understand it is merely a measure of the oligarchs getting wealthier and more powerful and you becoming more of a debt slave.  It represents their interests in multinational corporations with record profit margins because they refuse to pay their employees a living wage.  A rising stock market today is actually a leading indicator of the destruction of the middle class, cultural destitution and a society in collapse.

– From the 2013 post: The Stock Market: Food Stamps for the 1%

Eh, so what? It’s good for stocks.

Bloomberg reports:

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

America’s Road to Serfdom – 51% of Home Renters Are Over 40 Years Old

by

Screen Shot 2015-12-09 at 9.54.22 AM

Today’s story from the Associated Press perfectly illustrates how millions of Americans were reduced to neo-feudal serfs by the financial crisis, and how those who ruined the economy profited handsomely from the process.

While popular perception holds that debt-ridden, broke millennials are the ones driving the rental market, the truth is far more nuanced. As the AP reports:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The majority of U.S. renters are now older than 40, a fundamental shift over the past decade that reflects the lasting damage of the housing crash and an aging population.

This finding in a report released Wednesday by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies overturns the assumption that the rental boom is only the result of twenty-somethings flocking to hip urban centers. Single-family houses are a growing share of rentals. And affordability problems are mounting as rents rise faster than wages, while apartment construction increasingly targets tenants with six-figure incomes.

Nearly 51 percent of renters have celebrated their 40th birthday, according to the report’s analysis of Census Bureau data. That amounts to 22.4 million households. 

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.