Do you ever stop and think about the future of the United States and the viability of "The American Dream?" It used to be that we could go to college, get a good job, buy a home, raise a family, and retire fairly comfortably.
It really wasn't a bad deal.
Back then, if you went to college you were almost guaranteed a good job.
The benefits of those jobs were usually pretty good as well.
You might have had some stock options along with good vacation and health benefits.
On top of that you could buy a home for a reasonable price that could be paid off quickly.
The cost of a home in the 1950s and '60s was generally equal to the average family's yearly income.
Imagine that today.
If that were the case, the average family income would be around $150,000 to $350,000 per year.
What this tells me is not that homes are becoming more valuable.
It doesn't even tell me that incomes are decreasing.
What this tells me is that we've been hit by inflation.
I find it interesting that the government wants to convince us that there is no inflation.
How they can presume to do this is beyond me, and how people in general actually believe it is way beyond me.
This "logic" defies the very meaning of what inflation is.
Inflation means that the dollar supply is literally inflated.
What has happened in the recent months by the Federal Reserve? The have pumped more and more (trillions and trillions) of dollars into the economy.
Therefore they have INFLATED the economy.
This is what inflation is.
We see it everywhere.
We see it in the price of building materials, apparel, and cars; but mostly we see it in commodities like food, oil, and precious metals.
The point is that we are seeing inflation and it's the middle class that is taking the brunt of it.
The middle class doesn't get government help.
The middle class is the largest group of people in the US and therefore pays the most in taxes.
The middle class is a group of workers.
The rich make their money by leveraging other people's time and by leveraging money.
The poor make their money from the government, which gets that money from the middle class.
Granted the rich do pay taxes, but not as much (as a group) as the middle class do.
This will hopefully change soon enough, but for now it is what it is.
This means that this inflation is affecting and will affect the middle class the most.
The middle class will have to work harder to make ends meet, and the more they work, the more they'll be taxed.
On top of this, most of the companies that these people that make up the middle class work for are going bust because of the economy.
Less people are spending money; more people are either saving money or they need it to pay for necessities like food.
This means that the companies that have employed many of the middle class have had to downsize or even close and therefore there have been many layoffs and job losses.
My question is what are people doing? How are people surviving with this being the case? I know some people are able to find other jobs, lower-paying jobs mostly, but few are finding them.
But for the most part people are remaining unemployed and collecting unemployment benefits from the government.
Who's paying for these "benefits"? The answer is the rest of the (now dwindling) middle class.
This system is not sustainable.
Anyone that thinks it is sustainable or that thinks that it'll get any better is living in La La Land.
The truth is that the system is in a downward spiral.
The more people are laid off, the more people will not be spending money on non-necessities, the more those companies that manufacture non-necessities will shut down, and the more people are laid off.
It is a vicious cycle.
In the meantime the people that are still working are going to continue to be taxed, and feel inflation so those people are going to be spending less on non-necessities.
This means that many of those companies will ultimately lay off many more middle class employees, more quickly, and possibly eventually shut down.
This cycle cannot continue forever.
Eventually the middle class will be wiped out.
The American Dream as we know it is over.
It means we need to create a "new" American dream.
This takes me back to what I said about the rich and how they make their money.
They leverage other people's time and they leverage money.
Thinking about the word "leverage", what does this mean to you? Consider the way traditional employment works.
In a traditional job, you go to work Monday through Friday (week 1), then collect a paycheck the following week (week 2) for the work performed in week 1.
You work, get paid, one shot.
That's it.
You trade your time for money, basically.
The way the rich are able to leverage other people's time is that they own businesses that employ other people or that employ the time of other people -- two potentially different things but with the same outcome.
So what does this mean for you, as a member of the middle class? It means that you could take a lesson from the rich and you could help in creating this "new" American Dream I'm talking about.
You could be part of an economic revolution that could truly build your own quality of life as well as the quality of life of those that you, in turn, help to be part of this new American dream.
The title of this article is, "Why Now Could Be the Best Time to Start a Business" but the real questions are, "Why now for creating a new American dream?", "Why now for helping others improve their quality of life while helping you improve yours?", "Why now for protecting your future?" I think the answer is simple, logical, and straight-forward.
It is imperative.
If the middle class is dwindling it means they are going away.
They are not going away literally.
These people are still alive and will continue to live for many years, potentially.
But they are going away as a middle class.
There are only two places, directions if you will, to where the middle class could go "away" -- up or down, i.
e.
rich or poor.
If you do not know what the rich are doing or have done to become so and if you are not willing to learn and implement those actions then there is only one other direction to go - down, or become part of the "poor" class.
Self education to learn how to create this new American Dream is the key.
To ensure that you not only protect yourself and your future but that you are going up, take time to learn about business ownership.
It is not as difficult or intimidating as it may sound.
All you need is to break out of your comfort zone and become knowledgeable about what it entails.
Knowledge truly is power.
You might be pleasantly surprised that you could get started with minimal monetary and time investment.
Copyright © 2011 Marcie Y.
Martinez, Smart Success, LLC
It really wasn't a bad deal.
Back then, if you went to college you were almost guaranteed a good job.
The benefits of those jobs were usually pretty good as well.
You might have had some stock options along with good vacation and health benefits.
On top of that you could buy a home for a reasonable price that could be paid off quickly.
The cost of a home in the 1950s and '60s was generally equal to the average family's yearly income.
Imagine that today.
If that were the case, the average family income would be around $150,000 to $350,000 per year.
What this tells me is not that homes are becoming more valuable.
It doesn't even tell me that incomes are decreasing.
What this tells me is that we've been hit by inflation.
I find it interesting that the government wants to convince us that there is no inflation.
How they can presume to do this is beyond me, and how people in general actually believe it is way beyond me.
This "logic" defies the very meaning of what inflation is.
Inflation means that the dollar supply is literally inflated.
What has happened in the recent months by the Federal Reserve? The have pumped more and more (trillions and trillions) of dollars into the economy.
Therefore they have INFLATED the economy.
This is what inflation is.
We see it everywhere.
We see it in the price of building materials, apparel, and cars; but mostly we see it in commodities like food, oil, and precious metals.
The point is that we are seeing inflation and it's the middle class that is taking the brunt of it.
The middle class doesn't get government help.
The middle class is the largest group of people in the US and therefore pays the most in taxes.
The middle class is a group of workers.
The rich make their money by leveraging other people's time and by leveraging money.
The poor make their money from the government, which gets that money from the middle class.
Granted the rich do pay taxes, but not as much (as a group) as the middle class do.
This will hopefully change soon enough, but for now it is what it is.
This means that this inflation is affecting and will affect the middle class the most.
The middle class will have to work harder to make ends meet, and the more they work, the more they'll be taxed.
On top of this, most of the companies that these people that make up the middle class work for are going bust because of the economy.
Less people are spending money; more people are either saving money or they need it to pay for necessities like food.
This means that the companies that have employed many of the middle class have had to downsize or even close and therefore there have been many layoffs and job losses.
My question is what are people doing? How are people surviving with this being the case? I know some people are able to find other jobs, lower-paying jobs mostly, but few are finding them.
But for the most part people are remaining unemployed and collecting unemployment benefits from the government.
Who's paying for these "benefits"? The answer is the rest of the (now dwindling) middle class.
This system is not sustainable.
Anyone that thinks it is sustainable or that thinks that it'll get any better is living in La La Land.
The truth is that the system is in a downward spiral.
The more people are laid off, the more people will not be spending money on non-necessities, the more those companies that manufacture non-necessities will shut down, and the more people are laid off.
It is a vicious cycle.
In the meantime the people that are still working are going to continue to be taxed, and feel inflation so those people are going to be spending less on non-necessities.
This means that many of those companies will ultimately lay off many more middle class employees, more quickly, and possibly eventually shut down.
This cycle cannot continue forever.
Eventually the middle class will be wiped out.
The American Dream as we know it is over.
It means we need to create a "new" American dream.
This takes me back to what I said about the rich and how they make their money.
They leverage other people's time and they leverage money.
Thinking about the word "leverage", what does this mean to you? Consider the way traditional employment works.
In a traditional job, you go to work Monday through Friday (week 1), then collect a paycheck the following week (week 2) for the work performed in week 1.
You work, get paid, one shot.
That's it.
You trade your time for money, basically.
The way the rich are able to leverage other people's time is that they own businesses that employ other people or that employ the time of other people -- two potentially different things but with the same outcome.
So what does this mean for you, as a member of the middle class? It means that you could take a lesson from the rich and you could help in creating this "new" American Dream I'm talking about.
You could be part of an economic revolution that could truly build your own quality of life as well as the quality of life of those that you, in turn, help to be part of this new American dream.
The title of this article is, "Why Now Could Be the Best Time to Start a Business" but the real questions are, "Why now for creating a new American dream?", "Why now for helping others improve their quality of life while helping you improve yours?", "Why now for protecting your future?" I think the answer is simple, logical, and straight-forward.
It is imperative.
If the middle class is dwindling it means they are going away.
They are not going away literally.
These people are still alive and will continue to live for many years, potentially.
But they are going away as a middle class.
There are only two places, directions if you will, to where the middle class could go "away" -- up or down, i.
e.
rich or poor.
If you do not know what the rich are doing or have done to become so and if you are not willing to learn and implement those actions then there is only one other direction to go - down, or become part of the "poor" class.
Self education to learn how to create this new American Dream is the key.
To ensure that you not only protect yourself and your future but that you are going up, take time to learn about business ownership.
It is not as difficult or intimidating as it may sound.
All you need is to break out of your comfort zone and become knowledgeable about what it entails.
Knowledge truly is power.
You might be pleasantly surprised that you could get started with minimal monetary and time investment.
Copyright © 2011 Marcie Y.
Martinez, Smart Success, LLC