We’ve known all along that The Great Bull Market that began in March of 2009 would end badly, mainly because The Great Recession that brought the economy crashing down 18 months earlier is still very much with us. Granted, corporate profits have been a bright spot, at least until recently (a modest achievement, considering the trillions in borrowing it has cost us to create the mere appearance of recovery). But the growth in profits came at the expense of the workers themselves; for in fact, incomes have continued to fall in real terms, accelerating a trend that had been waxing for decades. With this has come a shrinkage in job opportunities that is due in part to a mismatch between the college degrees that are most popular these days –i.e., basket weaving and feminist studies – and a labor market whose growth has come almost entirely from McJobs and part-time positions.
Imploding Job Market
Employment prospects for the young are likely to implode in the years ahead for several reasons. For one, baby boomers are no longer able to gracefully vacate their desks and free up positions for new hires because most of the boomers are too strapped to retire. To make matters worse, the money they had counted on inheriting from their parents has dwindled as the latter have drawn down savings to offset the paltry yields engineered by our stupid, dishonest, corrupt, terminally inept Government. And then there is Obamacare, presciently labeled “the worst piece of legislation ever” by the Wall Street Journal when it was rammed down our throats a couple of years ago. We have serious doubts that Obamacare will ever be implemented, since the program appears to be asphyxiating under the weight of its own red tape. Even so, businesses have already reshaped themselves to Obamacare’s economically suicidal rules, including one that would make it prohibitively expensive to operate a business that crosses the 50-employee threshold by just a little.
And so America is in the untenable position of counting on 20- and 30-somethings, for whom high-paying, stable jobs do not exist, to finance Uncle Sam’s pay-as-you go Ponzi schemes of Medicare and Social Security. For tens of millions of Americans, unfortunately, the only conceivable outcome is a slide into poverty so deep that it will make the 1930s Depression look like a picnic.
The Question of the Week: What steps have you taken to avoid falling into this deep, dark abyss?
People only hear about Colorado when there is fire and flood. I remember reading somewhere, that Boulder experiences winds of over 100 mph about once every two years, on average.
But Colorado is the most underrated place in America, in terms of weather and natural environment. Lots of bright sunshine and low humidity. I do see advantages to living out on the prairie, slightly separated from the mountains and forests. It costs about half as much, for one thing!
I was born in Colorado Springs and lived in Denver till I was seven. That was a long time ago. Colorado was heaven on earth. Still not a bad place.
I remember my Dad arguing with my Mom, wanting to borrow $3,000 to buy an old Victorian cottage on Main Street….in Aspen! That was 1960.