Millions Upon Millions of Americans Have “Negative” Wealth
Posted with permission and written by Rory Hall, The Daily Coin
While 3 Americans possess more wealth than 50% of the combined poorest, we now learn that 20% of ALL Americans have zero or negative wealth. I presume by having “negative wealth” they have lived beyond their means for so long their debt burden is all they have to show for their life – very sad that people allow themselves to be put in that position.
The wealth inequality in America is largely the function of the Federal Reserve system that operates through the U.S. Treasury. Without this mechanism of wealth transference the current wealth imbalance would not exist – it would be almost impossible to have the number of “millionaires”, “billionaires” that currently roam the earth. These people would still be wealthy, but their wealth wouldn’t be completely out of balance with the mass of people.
Millions of Americans are living on the edge.
One in five households has zero or negative wealth, according to a report released this week by the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank based in Washington, D.C. What’s more, an even greater share of African-American (30%) and Latino (27%) households are “underwater” financially. The combined impact of $1 trillion in credit-card debt, $1.4 trillion in student loan debt, and stagnant wages are taking a toll.
U.S. homes have regained value since the Great Recession, but many households have not. “Millions of American families struggle with zero or negative wealth, meaning they owe more than they own,” the report found. “This means that they have nothing to fall back on if an unexpected expense comes up like a broken down car or illness.” And inequality could get worse through new tax cuts for the wealthy. Source
The mainstream media, once again, plays their role in keeping people ignorant. Instead telling people the truth about U.S. homes have regained value since the Great Recession and calling it what it is – massive inflation on the edge of hyperinflation – it is played off as some type of benefit for the mass of people – it is not. It is a benefit for the top 0.01% only as they already own, outright, their land, their businesses and our land and businesses. If a person purchased a home 20 years ago for $50k and today that home would sell for $2mm where would that person be able to replace their home, in the same neighborhood, and realize that gain? It wouldn’t happen. This is not an increase in value; it is simply inflation.
President Trump’s tax proposals won’t give America’s middle class the reprieve they need to grow their wealth and recover from the financial crash, said Josh Hoxie, who heads up the Project on Opportunity and Taxation at the Institute for Policy Studies. A recent analysis by the Joint Committee on Taxation concluded that taxes would decline for all income groups, with the biggest percentage-point decline for millionaires. Source
The current tax proposals, like past tax proposals, are for the wealthy to further strip-mine the poor. Having 3 people with more wealth than 50% of the poorest is not good enough – we need to have 3 people with more wealth than 75% of the poorest – that’s progress!!
On the other hand we see the other form of “hidden theft” – Inflation. We are beginning to see the cracks in the economy become cavernous while inflation continues to rise chewing up any hope of savings the poor could possibly amass. It’s like a trifecta of wealth transference.
With more pay-day-loan shops (loan sharks) popping up everyday, it seems the system is going to continue to exploit and strip the poor of whatever wealth they currently possess. As I stated at the beginning of this article, it is simply the Federal Reserve system doing exactly what it is was designed to do – shift the wealth of the many to the few and with the Federal Reserve Note past its peak and headed to the dustbin of history. The transfer of wealth, it seems, has adapted a particular sense of urgency.
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Millions Upon Millions of Americans Have “Negative” Wealth
Posted with permission and written by Rory Hall, The Daily Coin