Nobody really trusts Wall Street anymore. It seems that a few smart people make out, but most of us just end up being suckers. We still have our money in 401ks with the average American investing about $10,000 in one way or another, hoping and praying that our piddly investment won't lose too much, and maybe even keep up with inflation. But we aren't as cocky as we once were. We like to dream; that the Roaring 80s and 90s will be back, but that was, unfortunately and arguably, all built on a house of cards - called credit.
The middle class has been losing ground since 1970 and the Reagan revolution. What was revolutionary, I believe, was that the middle class got talked into a fairy tale - that they were upper middle class. Even today in the wake of financial disaster for mostly middle class people who were the big losers (home values, investments) where many have actually lost their jobs and homes because of runaway speculation (gambling) by a Wall Street that had too much of our money to know what to do with, middle class Americans believe that they are not becoming poorer, they believe that this is only a temporary setback for them.
Well, it may not be temporary. Jobs may not come back, home prices might not come back anytime soon, and most of all, "Middle Class" may soon become the fairy tale because we might all become "paupers!" Jobs are no longer based on production but increasingly hooked up with smoke and mirror corporations such as insurance, banking, and real-estate - the paper empires that produce nothing but paper.
Health insurance, regardless of what new laws are passed, may quickly become unaffordable for the middle class. Costs are rising through the roof and who can stop them, until perhaps the entire system collapses and the Government has to bail everyone out again. Nobody wants to take a cut. Doctors won't see Medicare patients, Insurance companies can't cut costs with doctors or hospitals because doctors and hospitals will then simply refuse to accept patients from cost cutting companies and only accept Cadillac plans. So costs may never come down, until there is a crises.
Gas prices will probably soar, all commodities may soar because of speculation and gambling. Food prices may go through the roof, and China could very well raise prices soon, and that might be the straw that breaks the camel's back. I would venture a guess that 80% of what we presently buy at Wal-Mart, Home Depot, or Lowe's comes from China.
Where is the middle class going to get the money? Whatever they have squirreled away will probably be taken away, either for medical expenses or just plain living expenses.
Insurance companies may increasingly refuse to pay out, whether it is life insurance, auto, health; you name it. They more than likely will find some kind of loophole and take our savings, because they want our money, not our problems. Everyone is after the middle class's money, but soon there may not be any middle class. Greed never surrenders until it falls on its own sword.
So, how can we protect ourselves in this environment that is so hostile for nice people who still believe that honesty and hard work pays off? Must we all become cynical and devious like used car salespeople? (My apologies to the few honest ones). I say that the best policy is to put yourself in a position where no one can take anything away from you ever again.
Don't buy a house or a new car. Instead, rent a cheap flat and take the bus, or if you must drive, get an old Toyota (they'll hold up). And eat rice and beans, don't eat out or go to the movies! Stop consuming. Only buy what you absolutely need at a second hand store. If you have a medical problem, go to the emergency room and insist on follow up care. By law they have to help you. (It's great! no paper work, no arguing with insurance companies!)
And if you happen to have some money put away, trust me, they will find it and take it away from you at the first opportunity. Better to give it all away and trust that poverty will take care of you, because being middle class will not take care of you any more. If you have someone you can trust, give all your money to them to hold for you, or if you can't even trust your friends and relatives these days, bury it in the back yard! But make sure you do it cleverly and little by little because the hospital will send out investigators to find out where your bank account went to. They will stop at nothing to get your money!
Without the cooperation of the Middle Class, the wealthy manipulators won't have the easy money that they have been blessed with in the past - your money. "The wealthy love their money," as Michael Moore says, "And they love yours even more!"
Good hearted people, middle class people have been working hard for many years and are now having everything taken away from them, while those in control keep telling us that we are doing great, and we should be independent and not rely on big government to take care of us. Well, who IS taking care of us? Whomever they are must be smiling all the way to the bank! They won't be smiling long, however, when their endless supply of cash comes to a screeching halt, as the middle class wakes up and understands how they are being snookered!
Okay, so what do we do to pass the time when we go into our impoverished mode? No eating out, no movies, no entertainment, no big screens. Hmm, what to do? Well, by golly, maybe it's about time for us to really live a spiritual life, you know, that life we talk about but can't quite pull off. We finally can be like Jesus or the Buddha who were basically paupers themselves. They lived the spiritual life with little interest in the things that cost money.
You know, maybe that's the secret to happiness; "Poverty." It sure would relieve a lot of middle class pressures!
anagarika eddie is a meditation teacher at the Dhammabucha Rocksprings Meditation Retreat Sanctuary (www.dhammarocksprings.org), and author of A Year to Enlightenment. His 30 years of meditation experience has taken him across four continents including two stopovers in Thailand where he practiced in the remote northeast forests as an ordained Thervada Buddhist monk.
I agree, we need to change our focus off of trying to get fulfillment from the "things" in our lives and find our fulfillment in our purpose in life. A purpose can't be found in stuff, it can only be found in the spiritual aspects of life.
What is happening in the economy now isn't some Wall Street conspiracy, it is a result of years of degradation of a generally good government and economic system into debilitating corruption because we are all corrupted by sin as individuals. So any governmental or economic system we implement will fail. That is why we can't rely on it to fulfill us or meet our needs. So, the only solution is spiritual.
The middle class will not disappear. Rather the entire country will become poorer when we experience hyperinflation, and only a few of the most powerful politicians and mega-business leaders will benefit. There is hope on the other side of a failure in our currency, though, if we recognize the system we had for the last 200 years was the most successful one in the world.
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